LINCOLN  ROOM 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


MEMORIAL 

the  Class  of  1901 

founded  by 

HARLAN  HOYT  HORNER 

and 

HENRIETTA  CALHOUN  HORNER 


LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 

Volume  One 


^ctriA^/__ 


LINCOLN 

THE  CITIZEN 

VOLUME    ONE 

OF    A 

LIFE  OF  LINCOLN 

BY 
HENRY   C.  WHITNEY 

Author  of  "Life  on  the  Circuit  with  Lincoln" 
EDITED  BY 

MARION  MILLS  MILLER,  Litt.D.  (Princeton) 

Editor  of  "The  Centenary  Edition  of  the  Life  and 
Works  of  Abraham  Lincoln" 


NEW  YORK 

THE  BAKER  &  TAYLOR  COMPANY 

1908 


Copyright,  1892,  by  Henry  C.  Whitney 

Copyright,   1907,  by  William  H.  Lambert 

Copyright,  1908,  by  The  Baker  &  Taylor  Co. 

Published  November ;  iqo8 


THE   QUINN    &    B0DEN    CO.    PRESS 
RAHWAY,    N.    J. 


8\ 


»» i 


PREFACE 

Judged  by  the  number  of  books  which  have 
been  written  about  him,  Abraham  Lincoln  is  in 
popular  estimation  the  greatest  man  of  modern 
times.  In  1906,  Daniel  Fish,  of  the  Minnesota 
bar,  compiled  a  Lincoln  bibliography  containing 
1,106  titles,  and  since  then,  in  anticipation  of  the 
special  interest  in  the  great  President  during  the 
year  of  1909,  when  the  centenary  of  his  birth 
occurs  (February  12),  an  unusual  number  of 
publications  about  him  has  considerably  increased 
this  total.  The  publishers  and  editor  of  the 
present  "  Life  of  Lincoln "  confidently  expect 
that  of  all  these  recent  contributions  to  the  sub- 
ject it  will  prove  to  be  the  most  interesting  and 
valuable.  Each  of  its  volumes,  "  Lincoln  the 
Citizen  "  and  "  Lincoln  the  President,"  is  com- 
plete within  its  field,  and  the  two  form  a  work 
that,  unlike  any  other  Life  of  Lincoln  of  the 
same  size,  is  both  a  comprehensive  biography 
and  an  intimate  character  study  of  the  great 
President.  In  the  latter  respect  it  is  second  in 
interest  only  to  the  critical  reminiscences  of  Lin- 
coln by  his  law  partner,  William  H.  Herndon, 
and  it  perhaps  surpasses  this  work  in  many  par- 
ticular points  of  keen  insight  and  generous  appre- 
ciation. This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  late 
Henry  C.  Whitney,  from  whose  voluminous 
manuscript  upon  Lincoln  and  other  unpublished 


vi  PREFACE 

literary  remains  the  present  work  has  been  com- 
piled, while  he  was,  like  Herndon,  a  legal  asso- 
ciate and  personal  friend  of  Lincoln,  neverthe- 
less did  not  stand  so  close  to  him  as  to  take  a 
distorted  view  of  his  heroic  proportions.  There 
is  less  of  a  "  personal  equation  "  to  take  into  ac- 
count in  the  case  of  Whitney's  book  than  in  the 
case  of  Herndon's,  although  the  former  work  is 
pervaded  by  a  charm  of  personal  observation  due 
to  the  author's  sympathetic  mood  and  his  unusu- 
ally advantageous  point  of  view.  In  this  connec- 
tion the  following  biographical  cketch  of  the 
author,  which  is  contributed  by  his  widow,  Sarah 
A.  Whitney,  will  be  of  interest. 

Thanks  are  extended  to  The  Lincoln  Farm 
Association,  and  particularly  to  its  secretary, 
Richard  Lloyd  Jones,  for  permission  to  use  Miss 
Ida  M.  Tarbell's  article,  "  The  Parents  of  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  "  as  an  appendix  to  "  Lincoln  the 
Citizen." 


HENRY  C.  WHITNEY 

[For  portrait  see  frontispiece  to  Volume  Two] 

Henry  C.  Whitney,  author  of  "  Life  on  the 
Circuit  with  Lincoln,"  "  The  Lost  Speech  of  Lin- 
coln," etc.,  was  born  in  the  State  of  Maine,  Feb- 
ruary 23,  1831.  He  received  a  classical  education 
at  Augusta  College,  Kentucky,  and  at  Farmers' 
College,  Ohio.  He  studied  law  at  the  Cincinnati 
and  Chicago  law  schools,  and  subsequently  set- 
tled in  Urbana,  111.  Here  in  1854  he  first  met 
Abraham  Lincoln.  They  traveled  the  judicial 
circuit  of  that  district  together,  and  from  then 
until  Mr.  Lincoln  was  elected  President,  and  in- 
deed ever  after,  they  were  close  friends.  As 
Mr.  Whitney  was  a  very  great  admirer  of  Mr. 
Lincoln,  and  as  they  were  associated  together  so 
much  in  their  law  business,  he  had  every  oppor- 
tunity of  becoming  intimately  acquainted  with 
him  and  his  characteristics,  both  in  public  and 
private  life.  Between  1855  and  1858,  the  period 
when  Lincoln  was  gaining  national  renown  as 
a  statesman,  he  wrote  Mr.  Whitney  a  number  of 
political  letters  which  are  the  most  confidential 
that  he  ever  penned.  After  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
elected  President  he  appointed  Mr.  Whitney  pay- 
master in  the  army,  August  6,  1861.  which  posi- 
tion Mr.  Whitney  held  until  March  13,  1865. 
After  the  war  he  settled  in  Nashville,  Tenn.,  for  a 
short  time,  but  he  soon  tired  of  the  condition  of 

vii 


viii  SKETCH  OF  WHITNEY 

affairs  in  the  South  and  went  West.  He  settled 
down  to  law  practice,  first  in  Lawrence,  then  at 
Humboldt,  Kan.  While  in  Humboldt  he  was 
elected  State  Senator  and  served  in  the  Legisla- 
ture two  years.  He  returned  to  Chicago  in  1872, 
and  practiced  law  there  until  1892,  when  he 
moved  to  Boston,  Mass.  Here,  in  one  of  the 
suburbs,  he  died  February  27,  1905.  He  was 
buried  at  "  Rose  Hill  "  cemetery,  Chicago. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Preface         

V 

Biographical  Sketch  of  Henry  C.  Whitney 

vii 

CHAPTER 

I. 

Lineage,  Parentage,  and  Childhood 

I 

II. 

Youth        

.       24 

III. 

Lincoln  as  a  Laborer 

49 

IV. 

Lincoln  as  a  Storekeeper 

78 

V. 

Soldier,   Surveyor,  and  Postmaster 

93 

VI. 

Lincoln's  Early  Love  Romance 

107 

VII. 

State   Legislator      .... 

122 

VIII. 

Congressman 

iSi 

IX. 

Citizen  and  Neighbor       . 

161 

X. 

Lawyer 

172 

XL 

Lincoln's  Religion 

201 

XII. 

Lincoln's   Mental  and   Moral  Natures 

208 

XIII. 

Free- Soil  Advocate 

241 

XIV. 

Attainment  of  the  Presidency 

254 

XV 

Inauguration  as  President              . 

294 

Appendixes  : 
I.    The  Autobiography  of  Abraham  Lincoln    315 
II.    The   Parents   of  Abraham   Lincoln,   by 

Ida  M.  Tarbell 319 

III.    The  "  Lost  Speech  "  of  Lincoln     .        .     327 

ix 


LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 


LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

CHAPTER  I 

LINEAGE,  PARENTAGE,  AND  CHILDHOOD 

In  the  year  1619,  in  the  then  considerable, 
rudely  built,  and  socially  isolated  city  of  Nor- 
wich, the  shire  town  of  Norfolk  County,  Eng- 
land, in  one  of  the  humble  families,  was  born  a 
child  who,  in  due  course  of  time,  received  the 
baptismal  appellation  of  Samuel  Lincoln. 

During-  the  same  year,  at  Jamestown,  a  newly 
founded  hamlet  in  the  wilderness  of  North 
America,  a  vessel,  in  stress  of  want,  cast  anchor 
in  the  river  and  offered  in  exchange  for  supplies, 
as  their  sole  vendible  property,  sundry  human 
chattels,  which  the  Lieutenant-Governor  of  the 
Colony,  then  in  command,  chiefly  from  consid- 
erations of  humanity  to  the  destitute  sailors,  ac- 
cepted, and  the  transaction  was  deemed  of  suf- 
ficient consequence  to  be  thus  jotted  down  in  the 
sober  chronicles  of  a  town  gossip  :  "About  the  last 
of  August  came  in  a  Dutch  man  of  zvarre  that 
sold  us  twenty  negars."  The  vessel,  thus  re- 
lieved, proceeded  home,  and,  coincident  with  its 
arrival  in  Holland,  an  incident  occurred  in  a 
neighboring  harbor,  which  is  thus  narrated  by 
the  local  historian : 

So  they  left  that  goodly  and  pleasant  City  of  Leyden, 
which  had   been  their  resting  place  for  above  eleven 


2  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

years :  but  they  knew  that  they  were  pilgrims  and 
strangers  here  below,  and  looked  not  much  on  these 
things,  but  lifted  up  their  eyes  to  Heaven,  their  dearest 
Country  where  God  had  prepared  for  them  a  City  (Heb. 
xi.  16)  and  therein  quieted  their  spirits.  When  they 
came  to  Delfs-Haven,  they  found  the  ship  and  all  things 
ready,  and  such  of  their  friends  as  could  not  come 
with  them,  followed  after  them,  and  sundry  came  from 
Amsterdam  to  see  them  shipt,  and  to  take  their  leavs 
of  them.  .  .  .  But  the  tide  (which  stays  for  no  man) 
calling  them  away  that  were  thus  loathe  to  depart,  their 
reverend  pastor  falling  down  on  his  knees,  and  they  all 
with  him,  with  watery  cheeks,  commended  them  with 
most  fervent  prayers  unto  the  Lord  and  his  blessing; 
and  then,  with  mutual  embraces  and  many  tears,  they 
took  their  leavs  one  of  another,  which  proved  to  be 
the  last  leave  to  many  of  them. 

These  several  events  did  not  appear  to  have 
any  interrelation,  but  to  be  as  remote  in  their 
moral  as  in  their  geographical  association ;  but  a 
retrospective  glance  reveals  the  truth  that  these 
incidents  were  acts  in  the  same  drama,  cantos 
in  the  same  epic,  complementary  in  the  moral 
world,  the  bane  and  antidote  of  the  greatest 
moral  offence  of  modern  days. 

When  Samuel  Lincoln  attained  the  age  of 
eighteen,  he  joined  in  the  migration  to  New  Eng- 
land then  rife,  and  landed  at  Salem  in  Massa- 
chusetts, where  he  became  an  apprentice  to  Fran- 
cis Lawes,  a  weaver,  remaining  until  he  attained 
his  majority,  when  he  shouldered  his  bundle  and 
made  his  way  on  foot  through  the  wilderness 
where  now  are  Swampscott,  Lynn,  Chelsea,  Bos- 
ton, Braintree,  and  Quincy,  to  the  hamlet  of 
Hingham,  which  had  been  founded  in  the  fall  of 
1635.  In  this  same  little  hamlet,  there  had  set- 
tled, in  the  year  1636,  Thomas  Lincoln,  the 
miller,  Thomas  Lincoln,  the  cooper,  and  Thomas 
Lincoln,  the  weaver,  the  latter  being  a  brother 


LINEAGE,  PARENTAGE,  CHILDHOOD        3 

to  Samuel;  and  in  1638,  Thomas  Lincoln,  the 
farmer,  and  his  brother  Stephen,  settled  there. 
All  came  from  the  county  of  Norfolk,  England : 
Thomas,  the  weaver,  from  Hingham,  Samuel 
from  Norwich,  Thomas,  the  farmer,  and  Stephen 
from  Windham. 

A  great-grandson  of  Thomas,  the  cooper,  was 
Benjamin,  a  Major  General  in  the  Revolutionary 
War,  the  same  who  received  the  surrender  of 
Cornwallis  at  Yorktown,  who  also  quelled 
"Shays' "  Rebellion  in  Western  Massachusetts 
in  1787,  and  to  whom,  when  Knox  retired,  was 
tendered  the  position  of  Secretary  of  War  in 
Washington's  Cabinet,  which  honor  he  de- 
clined. Another  descendant  of  Samuel  Lin- 
coln was  Levi  Lincoln,  who  was  a  member  of 
Congress  and  Attorney  General  of  the  United 
States  in  Jefferson's  Cabinet  from  March 
5,  1801,  to  December  23,  1805.  President  Madi- 
son appointed  him  a  Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  but  Lincoln  was 
obliged  to  decline  the  appointment  on  account 
of  a  failure  of  his  eyesight.  A  son  of  this  Lin- 
coln was  named  Levi  also.  He  filled  many  high 
offices,  including  that  of  Governor  of  Massachu- 
setts from  1825  to  1834,  and  Member  of  Con- 
gress from  1835  to  1841,  and  was  prominently 
mentioned  as  a  candidate  for  President  of  the 
United  States.  He  had  a  brother,  Enoch,  who 
was  a  Member  of  Congress  from  1818  to  1826, 
and  Governor  of  Maine  from  1827  till  his  death. 
These  illustrious  men  were  cousins  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  in  a  remote  degree.  The  similarity  of 
their  Hebraic  names  to  those  of  the  immediate 
ancestry  of  the  President  cannot  fail  to  be 
noticed. 


4  'LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

Samuel  Lincoln  had  ten  children,  one  of  whom 
was  Mordecai,  who  was  born  at  Hingham  in 
1657,  and  became  a  blacksmith  at  Hull,  where  he 
married,  and  in  1704  removed  to  the  neighbor- 
ing town  of  Scituate,  where  he  established  a  fur- 
nace for  the  smelting  of  ore.  He  was  a  man  of 
substance,  and  in  his  will  bequeathed  lands  in 
both  Hingham  and  Scituate,  a  saw-  and  grist- 
mill, iron  works,  and  considerable  money ;  he  also 
made  provision  for  a  collegiate  education  for 
three  grandsons.  Of  his  five  children,  Mordecai 
Jr.  the  eldest  removed  from  Scituate,  when  his 
eldest  son,  John,  was  born,  to  Monmouth  County, 
New  Jersey,  and  afterwards  to  Chester,  Penn., 
and  Berks  County  in  Pennsylvania  in  due  suc- 
cession. 

The  son,  John,  had  five  sons,  named  respec- 
tively John,  Thomas,  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob, 
together  with  daughters.  In  1758  he  removed 
to  the  northern  part  of  Augusta  County,  Vir- 
ginia, which  county  was,  in  1779,  detached  and 
joined  to  Rockingham  County. 

The  son,  Abraham,  migrated  to  the  northwest 
part  of  North  Carolina,  to  the  waters  of  the  Ca- 
tawba River,  where  he  married  Miss  Mary  Ship- 
ley, by  whom  he  had  three  several  sons,  named, 
respectively,  Mordecai,  Josiah,  and  Thomas; 
and,  during  or  about  the  year  1780,  emigrated 
with  several  families  of  the  Berrys  and  Shipleys 
to  Kentucky,  which,  though  known  as  "the  dark 
and  bloody  ground,"  by  reason  of  the  many  In- 
dian massacres,  was  at  that  time  attracting  much 
attention  through  reports  of  its  extreme  fertility 
made  by  such  explorers  as  Boone,  Newton,  and 
Clark,  the  explorations  of  the  former  commenc- 
ing in  1769. 


'LINEAGE,  PARENTAGE,  CHILDHOOD        5 

There  were  eight  families  in  all,  and  these, 
when  they  arrived  to  within  twenty-five  or  thirty 
miles  southeast  of  Crab  Orchard,  were  attacked 
by  Indians,  and  some  of  the  party  were  wounded, 
and  one  woman  taken  prisoner.  These  immi- 
grants settled  in  Jefferson  and  Washington 
Counties,  Kentucky,  but  the  specific  settlement 
of  Abraham  Lincoln  is  somewhat  obscured  by 
doubt.  One  excellent  biographer  fixes  the  loca- 
tion in  Mercer  County,  but  his  authority  therefor 
does  not  appear.  Several  others,  repeating  each 
other,  name  Floyd's  Creek  in  what  is  now  known 
as  Bullitt  County,  and,  in  point  of  fact,  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  did  on  May  29,  1780,  enter  four 
hundred  acres  of  land  on  Long  Run,  a  branch  of 
Floyd's  fork  of  Salt  River,  whence  there  is  rea- 
son to  suppose  that  upon  that  land  he  made  his 
settlement.  Hon.  J.  L.  Nail,  a  great-grandson  of 
the  pioneer,  and  a  grandson  of  his  daughter 
Nancy,  who  married  William  Brumfield,  avers  * 
that  his  ancestor  settled  at  the  present  site  of 
Louisville,  and  adduces  in  support  of  his  state- 
ment the  concurrent  evidence  of  his  great-grand- 
mother, the  wife  of  the  pioneer,  and  who  lived  to 
the  great  age  of  one  hundred  and  ten  years,  and 
of  his  grandmother ;  also  of  his  great-uncle,  Mor- 
decai  Lincoln,  all  of  whom  he  has  heard  talk  of 
the  subject  frequently. 

After  settling  in  Kentucky,  there  were  added 
to  his  family  two  daughters,  Mary,  who  after- 
wards married  Ralph  Crume,  and  Nancy,  who 
thereafter  married  William  Brumfield ;  and  in 
1784,  while  he  was  at  work  in  the  clearing, 
attended  only  by  his  youngest  son,  Thomas,  the 
father  of  the  President,  he  was  fatally  shot  by  an 

*  This  history  was  written  in  1892. 


6  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

Indian.  The  eldest  son,  Mordecai,  shot  and 
killed  the  savage  just  as  he  picked  up  little 
Thomas  and  was  starting-  to  make  off  with  his 
prize,  and  so  the  boy  was  saved  to  become  the 
father  of  the  President. 

There  is  a  dispute  about  the  location  of  the 
scene  of  the  tragedy.     Mr.   Nail  writes : 

The  newspaper  article  stating  that  my  great-grand- 
father Lincoln  was  killed  on  Lincoln's  Run  is  altogether 
wrong:  he  was  killed  at  "Beargrass"  fort,  as  1  got  it 
directly  from  my  grandmother,  who  was  in  the  fort  at 
the  time,  and  knew  what  she  was  talking  about.  While 
he  lived  in  the  fort,  he  entered  four  hundred  acres  of 
land  on  Floyd's  fork  of  Salt  Run  in  what  is  now  Bullitt 
County,  Kentucky.  .  .  .  My  great-grandmother,  Mary 
Shipley  Lincoln,  moved  with  my  grandfather,  William 
Brumfield,  who  married  her  daughter  Nancy,  to  Hardin 
County,  Kentucky,  and  lived  the  balance  of  her  long 
life  with  them,  and  died,  when  I  was  a  good  big  boy, 
at  the  age  of  one  hundred  and  ten  years. 

The  grandmother  and  great-grandmother 
were  both  present  at  this  tragedy,  which  must 
have  impressed  itself  deeply  upon  their  minds. 
So  likewise  must  it  have  been  ever  present  to  the 
mind  of  his  grand-uncle,  Mordecai,  who  was  one 
of  the  chief  actors  in  that  frontier  tragedy ;  and 
the  writer  of  the  above,  a  highly  intelligent  and, 
in  all  respects,  honorable  man,  professes  to  have 
heard  it  often  talked  of  in  the  family  circle.  Un- 
der ordinary  circumstances  this  would  be  his- 
torically conclusive,  and  certainly  as  well  attested 
as  historical  facts  usually  are ;  while  nobody  fixes 
authoritatively  any  different  locality. 

As  militating  against  the  above  theory  is  the 
following:  Abraham  Lincoln  was  killed  in  1784. 
In  May,  1780,  the  town  of  Louisville  was  char- 
tered by  the  Virginia  Legislature,  and  a  tract  of 


LINEAGE,  PARENTAGE,  CHILDHOOD        7 

one  thousand  acres  plotted  into  half-acre  lots,  the 
boundaries  of  the  thousand  acres  being  First  and 
Twelfth  Streets,  and  Main  and  Chestnut  Streets. 
A  large  number  of  the  lots  were  immediately  sold 
at  auction;  and  in  1782  there  were  a  hundred 
householders  there,  and  in  1783  a  general  store 
was  established.  In  1782  a  fort  was  erected  and 
designated  "Fort  Nelson,"  but  nowhere  spoken 
of  as  the  "Beargrass"  Fort;  and  in  all  the  his- 
tories of  Louisville  which  profess  to  include  all 
names  of  the  early  pioneers,  no  mention  what- 
ever is  made  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Indeed,  in  1784,  the  date  of  the  pioneer's  death, 
a  prosperous  village  of  between  500  and  1,000  in- 
habitants was  located  at  or  near  the  alleged  site 
of  the  murder. 

The  Washington  County  Herald  (Springfield, 
Ky.),  deriving  its  information  from  old  citizens, 
fixes  the  site  of  the  tragedy  at  "Lincoln's  Run," 
about  five  miles  northwest  of  Springfield.  I  in- 
cline to  think  this  is  correct,  although  I  have 
great  faith  in  Mr.  Nail  and  his  general  accuracy 
about  these  matters. 

At  this  time  the  Virginia  law  of  primogeniture 
was  in  force,  and  the  four  hundred  acres  on 
Floyd's  Creek,  became  vested  in  Mordecai,  the 
eldest  son.  The  widow,  with  her  three  sons, 
Mordecai,  Josiah,  and  Thomas,  and  two  daugh- 
ters, Mary  and  Nancy,  removed  to  Washington 
County,  and,  settling  on  a  creek  which  from  that 
circumstance  took  the  name  of  "Lincoln's  Run," 
remained  there  till  all  the  children  reached  the 
age  of  maturity. 

Mordecai,  as  I  was  informed  by  President  Lin- 
coln himself,  married  a  Miss  Mudd,  who  be- 
longed to  one  of  the  best  families  of  Kentucky. 


8  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

He  afterwards  became  Sheriff  of  Washington 
County  and  likewise  represented  the  same  county 
in  the  Legislature.  He  then  removed  to  Gray- 
son County,  Kentucky,  and  ultimately  to  Han- 
cock County,  Illinois,  where  he  died.*  Josiah, 
the  second  of  this  name,  removed  early  in  life 
to  Harrison  County,  in  southern  Indiana,  the 
second  county  east  of  that  in  which  his  brother 
Thomas  afterwards  settled  and  there  died.  The 
eldest  daughter,  Mary,  married  Ralph  Crume  in 
Washington  County,  and  removed  to  Brecken- 
ridge  County  in  Kentucky,  where  they  finally 
died.  Nancy,  the  youngest  daughter,  married 
William  Brumfield  in  Washington  County  and 
thereafter  removed  to  Hardin,  where  they  ulti- 
mately died. 

The  widow  of  Abraham  Lincoln  Sr.  took  up 
her  abode  with  her  youngest  daughter,  Nancy 
(Lincoln)  Brumfield,  and  removed  with  her  to 
Hardin  County,  Kentucky,  where  she  died  at  the 
age  of  one  hundred  and  ten  years,  being  buried 
at  Old  Mill  Creek  burying-ground.  Mordecai's 
descendants  I  have  no  trace  of,  except  Mrs. 
Levi  Smith,  who  lived  a  few  years  since  near 
Springfield,  Ky.  The  Hon.  J.  L.  Nail,  a  grandson 
of  the  youngest  daughter,  Nancy  (Lincoln) 
Brumfield,  has  been  a  member  of  the  Kentucky 
Legislature  and  is  now  a  merchant  in  south- 
western Missouri.  A  granddaughter  of  the  eldest 
sister,  Mary  (Lincoln)  Crume,  has  been  an  in- 
mate of  Mr.  Nail's  family  for  thirty-six  years  past. 

While  Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  Member  of  Congress 

*  "Old  men  who  personally  knew  Uncle  Mordecai 
said  that  he  was  a  very  smart  man  and  exceedingly 
popular ;  but  was  a  sporting  man  and  somewhat  reck- 
less."-Nail. 


'LINEAGE,  PARENTAGE,  CHILDHOOD        9 

in  1848,  in  reply  to  inquiries  made  as  to  his  pedi- 
gree, he  thus  wrote  to  Hon.  Solomon  Lincoln  of 
Hingham  (since  deceased)  :  "My  father's  name 
was  Thomas,  my  grandfather's  was  Abraham, 
the  same  as  my  own.  My  grandfather  went 
from  Rockingham  County,  in  Virginia,  to  Ken- 
tucky about  the  year  1782.  And  two  years  af- 
terwards was  killed  by  the  Indians.  We  have 
a  vague  tradition  that  my  great-grandfather  went 
from  Pennsylvania  to  Virginia,  and  that  he  was 
a  Quaker.  Further  than  that,  I  have  never 
heard  anything.  It  may  do  no  harm  to  say  that 
Abraham  and  Mordecai  are  common  names  in 
our  family."  And  in  a  subsequent  letter  written 
during  the  same  year,  he  says  :  "I  have  mentioned 
that  my  grandfather's  name  was  Abraham.  He 
had,  as  I  think  I  have  heard,  four  brothers,  Isaac, 
Jacob,  Thomas,  and  John."  * 

Thomas  Lincoln,  the  youngest  son,  who  was 
with  his  father  when  the  latter  lost  his  life,  was 
by  this  circumstance,  as  well  as  from  the  paucity 
of  common  schools,  deprived  of  an  opportunity 
to  acquire  an  education,  and  never  attended 
school  in  his  entire  life.  The  era  of  childhood 
was  to  him  one  of  almost  unrestrained  liberty, 
privation,  and  adventure.  He  was  born  and 
spent  his  entire  life  on  the  frontier ;  had  no  cul- 
ture and  was  ignorant  of  the  restraints  and  refine- 
ment of  enlightened  society.  He  was,  however, 
a  man  of  good  native  abilities  and  kindly  instincts, 
but  with  no  system,  progress,  or  normal  business 
qualities;  hence  he  made  but  little  provision  for 
the  future  and  took  little  thought  of  the  morrow. 

William  G.  Greene,  who  spent  one  day  with 

*  See    also    "  Autobiography    of    Abraham    Lincoln," 
Appendix  I.,  in  present  volume. 


ro  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

him,  and  felt  interested  to  make  a  study  of  him, 
avers  that  he  was  a  man  of  great  native  reason- 
ing powers  and  fine  social  magnetism,  reminding 
him  of  his  illustrious  son ;  but  that,  having  re- 
ceived no  education,  drill,  or  discipline,  he  knew 
nothing  of  persistency  of  effort  in  a  continuous 
line,  nor  of  the  laws  of  thrift  or  financial  cause 
and  effect ;  that  he  evidently  was  industrious, 
though  shifting  rapidly  from  one  thing  to  another ; 
that  he  was  candid  and  truthful,  popular  with  his 
neighbors,  and  brave  to  temerity.  He  was  very 
stoutly  built,  about  five  feet  ten  inches  high,  and 
weighed  nearly  two  hundred  pounds ;  his  desire 
was  to  be  on  terms  of  amity  and  sociability  with 
every  one.  He  had  a  great  stock  of  border  anec- 
dotes and  professed  a  marvellous  proclivity  to 
entertain  by  "spinning  yarns"  and  narrating  his 
youthful  experiences.*  He  was  an  inveterate 
hunter,  as,  indeed,  were  most  of  the  pioneers. 
In  both  Kentucky  and  southern  Indiana,  in  the 
vicinage  of  his  homes,  every  man  and  boy  owned 
a  rifle,  and  it  was  unsafe  and  also  unusual  to  go 
through  the  woods  unarmed.  Game,  particularly 
deer,  was  one  of  the  chief  staples  of  existence. 
Before  Thomas  had  attained  his  majority,  he 
wended  his  way  on  foot  across  the  Cumberland 
Mountains,  to  eastern  Tennessee,  where  he 
worked  on  a  farm  for  his  uncle  Isaac,  who  had 
settled  on  one  of  the  affluents  of  the  Holstein 
River.  Upon  his  return  to  Kentucky,  he  entered 
as  an  apprentice  to  learn  the  cabinetmaker's  trade 

*  "I  have  known  several  old  men  who  knew  Thomas 
Lincoln  intimately.  They  said  he  had  (as  they  termed 
it)  good  strong  horse  sense  and  was  an  excellent  man. 
He  was  a  cabinet  maker  and  was  thrifty  when  he  lived 
in  Kentucky."— Nail. 


LINEAGE,  PARENTAGE,  CHILDHOOD      *t 

in  the  shop  of  one  Joseph  Hanks,  in  Elizabeth- 
town,  and  while  thus  engaged,  he  became  enam- 
ored of  a  niece  of  his  employer  by  the  name  of 
Nancy  Hanks. 

It  would  appear  that  there  were  four  families 
which  had  been  closely  and  intimately  associated 
in  geographical  propinquity  in  at  least  two  States, 
if  not  in  three  or  four,  and  were  also  equally  as- 
sociated in  marital  bonds.  They  were  the  Lin- 
colns,  Hankses,  Berrys,  and  Shipleys.  They  prob- 
ably were  all  of  Quaker  proclivities,  and  among 
that  worthy  class  there  is  a  spiritual  intimacy 
unknown  in  other  clanships.  The  Lincolns  and 
Hankses  had  been  neighbors  in  Berks  County, 
Pennsylvania.  The  Berrys,  Shipleys,  Lincolns, 
and  Hankses  had  owned  a  common  tie  of  spir- 
itual community  in  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  and 
Kentucky.  One  Richard  Berry  had  emigrated 
from  North  Carolina  to  Kentucky  in  the  same 
party  with  Abraham  Lincoln  Sr.  They  were 
connected  by  the  fact  of  both  having  married  sis- 
ters of  the  name  of  Shipley.  A  daughter  of 
Richard  Berry  Sr.  had  married  into  the  Hanks 
family  in  Virginia,  the  issue  being  one  child,  a 
girl,  named  Nancy.  When  the  father  died  the 
widow,  Lucy  (Berry)  Hanks,  migrated  with  her 
brothers-in-law  to  Kentucky,  where  she  married 
a  second  time,  this  husband  being  one  Henry 
Sparrow,  brother  to  Thomas  Sparrow  who  had 
espoused  her  first  husband's  sister.  Prior  to  this 
second  marriage,  the  widow  and  child  had  found 
a  temporary  home  with  Thomas  Sparrow's 
family,  and  after  the  marriage,  Nancy,  being 
greatly  endeared  to  her  aunt,  continued  to  live 
there  for  a  time.  Dennis  Hanks,  a  cousin,  being 
a  child  of  still  another  Hanks,  was  also  an  in- 


12  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

mate  of  the  same  household.  The  child  Nancy 
was  indifferently  called  by  her  true  name  of 
Hanks  and  by  her  mother's  new  name,  it  being 
also  her  aunt's  name,  of  Sparrow,  and  by  the 
latter  name  both  John  and  Dennis  Hanks  knew 
her,  and  Mrs.  Hanaford,  in  her  interesting  sketch 
of  Mr.  Lincoln's  life,  so  designates  her,  on  the 
authority  of  the  two  Hankses. 

After  living  with  her  Aunt  Sparrow  for  a 
while  she  made  a  visit  to  her  maternal  grandfa- 
ther, Richard  Berry,  then  living  at  Mattingly's 
Mills,  on  Beech  fork,  in  Washington  County, 
and  was  induced  by  him  to  maintain  her  abode 
there,  which  she  did  till  she  was  married. 

It  may  be  mentioned  that,  prior  to  the  betrothal 
of  Thomas  Lincoln  and  Nancy  Hanks,  he  had 
courted  another  girl  in  Hardin  County,  one  Sallie 
Bush,  but  that  for  some  reason  the  courtship 
either  did  not  mature  into  an  engagement,  or  else 
the  engagement  was  broken  off;  for  both  par- 
ties entered  into  other  matrimonial  alliances. 
Thomas  Lincoln's  marriage  with  Nancy  Hanks 
was  a  highly  respectable  one,  but  his  alliance 
with  Sallie  Bush  would  have  been  more  re- 
cherche, for  the  latter  was  connected  with  the 
elite  of  that  part  of  Kentucky,  as  I  shall  here- 
after show.  No  especial  reasons  are  disclosed 
by  history  why  Nancy  did  not  make  her  home 
with  her  mother,  but  it  is  probable  that,  when  she 
had  so  many  acceptable  homes,  she  selected  that 
which  was  most  agreeable ;  that  in  the  depressing 
poverty  incident  to  the  frontier  families  in  those 
days,  the  step-father  might  have  found  it  a  re- 
lief to  be  disencumbered  of  the  charge  and  ex- 
pense of  a  child  to  whom  he  was  bound  by  only 
a  conventional  tie.      So  it  is  not  strange  that 


LINEAGE,  PARENTAGE,  CHILDHOOD      13 

this  forlorn  child  was  reared  in  the  home  of  an 
aunt,  and  her  grandfather  committed  her  destiny 
to  the  keeping  of  this  uncouth  apprentice,  who 
was  as  ignorant  as  a  cave-man  of  the  duties  and 
responsibilities  of  civilized  life.  At  this  time 
Nancy  was  in  her  twenty-third  year.  She  was 
narrow-chested,  and  of  consumptive  tendencies. 
Her  complexion  was  sallow,  indicative  of  bad 
nutrition.  Her  hair  was  dark,  her  eyes  were 
gray,  her  forehead  was  high,  and  her  demeanor 
was  reserved  and  sad.  Moreover,  in  that  primi- 
tive region,  where  there  were  scarcely  any 
schools  even  for  the  better  order  of  people,  she 
had  somehow  picked  up  considerable  education. 
She  was  intellectual  in  her  ambition  and  tenden- 
cies, and  she  had  an  excellent  memory,  good 
judgment,  and  a  fine  sense  of  propriety.  Her 
nature  seems  to  have  been  conservative  rather 
than  aggressive.  Although  her  ambition  was 
above  her  surroundings  and  apparent  destiny, 
she  seems  to  have  considered  her  humble  lot  and 
condition  in  life  to  be  inevitable,  and  to  have 
made  no  radical  effort  to  change  it,  resting  con- 
tent in  faithfully  performing  her  wifely  and 
motherly  duties.  While  biographers  have  not 
hesitated  to  shake  the  genealogical  tree  vigor- 
ously, in  order  to  bring  down  all  possible  fruit 
availing  in  connection  with  the  paternal  ancestry 
of  the  martyred  President,  scarcely  more  than  a 
passing  glance  has  been  bestowed  upon  the  pen- 
dent boughs  which  could  illustrate  the  pedigree 
of  the  maternal  line ;  the  general  statement  being 
that  the  mother's  name  was  Nancy  Hanks,  a 
daughter  of  Lucy  Hanks.  The  President  him- 
self states  it  somewhat  differently  thus  :  "My  par- 
ents  were  both  born  in  Virginia  of  undistin- 


14  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

guished  family — second  families,  perhaps,  I 
should  say.  My  mother,  who  died  in  my  tenth 
year,  was  of  a  family  of  the  name  of  Hanks." 
(This,  in  its  normal  and  natural  sense,  implies 
that  his  mother  was  born  in  a  family,  of  course.) 

All  persons  are  aware  that  there  is  a  tendency 
either  of  adulation  or  detraction  to  locate  the 
origin  of  notable  persons,  either  in  the  Ely- 
sium of  the  blest  or  the  limbo  of  the  infernal.  In 
the  infinite  stretch  and  realms  of  the  imagination, 
it  is  not  allowable  that  a  man  of  unique  his- 
tory should  have  other  than  a  unique  origin. 
(Romulus  and  Remus  were  suckled  by  a  she- 
wolf;  Caesar  descended  from  Anchises  and 
Venus ;  and  Napoleon  from  Agamemnon  or 
Achilles.)  Despite  all  fable,  Mr.  Lincoln  had  an 
origin,  on  both  the  maternal  and  paternal  line, 
common  to  mankind  in  general.  No  fact  is  bet- 
ter avouched  than  that  Richard  Berry  Sr.,  the 
grandfather  of  the  Richard  Berry  Jr.  who  be- 
came surety  on  Thomas  Lincoln's  marriage  bond, 
was  also  the  grandfather  of  Nancy  Hanks.  It 
was  so  thoroughly  well  understood  in  Washing- 
ton County,  Kentucky,  as  never  to  have  been 
questioned.  It  was  once  disputed  whether 
Abraham  Lincoln  was  born  in  Washington  or 
Hardin  County;  but  the  fact  above  given  was 
never,  and  is  not  now,  in  question  among  an  en- 
tire community  who  were  in  a  position  to  know ; 
and  if  confirmation  is  needed,  the  facts  that  she 
made  her  home  there  as  one  of  the  family,  that 
Richard  Berry  Jr.,  her  cousin,  became  her  guard- 
ian and  also  became  surety  on  the  marriage  bond, 
confirm  it. 

Equally  conclusive  is  the  testimony  of  Hon. 
J.  L.  Nail,  a  grandson  of  Thomas  Lincoln's  sister 


LINEAGE,  PARENTAGE,  CHILDHOOD       15 

Nancy,  and  by  far  the  most  intelligent  archaeolo- 
gist and  genealogist  of  that  branch  of  the  Lin- 
coln family  which  includes  the  President.  He 
says  absolutely,  and  with  emphasis  and  circum- 
stance, that  Nancy  Hanks  was  an  orphan  girl  at 
a  tender  age,  her  father  being  a  Hanks  and  her 
mother  a  Berry,  daughter  of  old  Richard  Berry. 
The  latter  and  Abraham  Lincoln  Sr.  married  sis- 
ters by  the  name  of  Shipley,  which  made  the  Pres- 
ident and  his  wife  remote  cousins,  having  the 
same  great-grandfather  and  great-grandmother. 
Mr.  Nail  says  specifically: 

Nancy  Hanks's  mother  was  a  Berry,  and  she  married 
a  Hanks,  who  was  the  father  of  Nancy;  he  died  in 
Virginia  and  his  widow  married  Sparrow,  and  Richard 
Berry  raised  Nancy.  I  had  an  uncle  John  N.  Hill  who 
died  in  Hardin  County  in  1883  at  the  age  of  one  hun- 
dred years.  He  was  one  of  the  most  intelligent  and 
best  posted  men  in  Kentucky  history  I  ever  knew  in  my 
life,  and  this  was  his  version  of  the  relationship,  as 
well  as  that  of  my  grandfather  William  Brumfield  and 
grandmother  Nancy  (Lincoln)  Brumfield.  Uncle  Hill 
was  not  related  to  the  Lincoln  family,  and,  of  course, 
had  nothing  to  cover  up  or  conceal.  He  lived  in  Wash- 
ington County  in  his  younger  days,  right  by  the  side  of 
the  Lincoln  and  Berry  family ;  and  was  at  the  wedding 
when  Thomas  Lincoln  and  Nancy  Hanks  were  married. 
.  .  .  When  Lincoln  was  nominated  for  President,  there 
were  quite  a  number  of  old  men  living  in  Hardin 
County,  among  whom  was  old  Mr.  Riney,  to  whom  the 
President  went  to  school,  and  they  knew  the  Lincoln 
and  Berry  families  and  took  delight  in  rehearsing  mat- 
ters they  knew  in  connection  with  them,  and  this  was 
their  version  and  understanding.  It  indeed  was  not 
disputed  and  was  not  discussed  adversely — simply  as- 
sumed as  a  well-known  fact. 

One  of  the  most  prominent  citizens  of  Spring- 
field, Ky.,  Squire  R.  M.  Thompson,  feeling  the 
honor  of  his  own  family  trenched  upon  by  the 


1 6  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

innuendo  in  Lamon's  Life  of  Lincoln  concern- 
ing Lincoln's  parents,  himself  searched  for  and 
found  the  marriage  certificate  of  Thomas  Lincoln 
and  Nancy  Hanks ;  and  in  testifying  under  oath 
about  it,  embraced  this  paragraph :  "The  mother 
of  Nancy  (Hanks)  Lincoln,  who  was  the  mother 
of  President  Abraham  Lincoln,  was  an  own 
cousin  of  affiant's  mother."  This  was  on  the 
theory  that  she  was  a  Berry.  I  repeat,  the  gen- 
eral and  the  particular  repute  that  Lucy  Hanks 
was  a  Berry  is  as  firmly  grounded  as  any  fact 
in  Washington  County.  The  Herald  of  that 
county  once  stated  that  she  was  a  Shipley.  This 
was  a  natural  mistake,  her  grandmother  being  a 
Shipley,  and  the  Shipleys  and  Berrys  being 
closely  interrelated;  her  grandmother  and  Presi- 
dent Lincoln's  grandmother  were  sisters,  and,  of 
course,  their  great-grandparents  in  that  time 
were  identical. 

I  am  not  unaware  that  John  and  Dennis  Hanks 
call  her  a  Sparrotv,  but  they  also  call  the  Presi- 
dent's grandfather  Mordecai.  There  is  no  real 
basis  for  either  statement,  except  as  I  have  stated, 
nor  am  I  unaware  that  a  higher  authority  than 
the  Hankses  does  not  concur  in  my  arrangement 
of  the  pedigree  of  Nancy  Hanks;  but  it  is  a 
maxim  in  equity  that  "what  ought  to  be  done  is 
considered  as  done,"  and  inasmuch  as  this  state- 
ment, well  known  to  close  students  of  Lincolnian 
biography,  ought  not  to  have  been  made,  or,  if 
made,  ought  not  to  be  printed,  it  should  be 
treated  as  not  made  at  all ;  and  besides,  however 
wise  or  interested  a  party  might  be  in  general, 
it  does  not  follow  that  he  knew  any  more  (or 
even  as  much)  about  such  a  matter  than  others. 
In  addition  to  all,  in  a  conflict  of  evidence,  that 


LINEAGE,  PARENTAGE,  CHILDHOOD      17 

which  is  most  weighty,  probable,  and  convincing, 
and  especially  if  cumulative,  should  prevail. 

The  masterpiece  of  Lincoln  biography,  Nico- 
lay's,  accepts  Mr.  Nail's  version  of  Lincoln's 
paternal  grandmother's  identity  as  conclusive 
over  that  of  Secretary  Welles,  who  was  related 
to  the  New  England  branch  of  the  Lincoln  family, 
and,  by  reason  of  his  coign  of  vantage,  should 
know  whereof  he  affirmed.  This  distinguished 
and  accurate  kinsman  had  equal  opportunities  to 
know  the  pedigree  in  the  maternal  line,  and  his 
comments  in  that  matter  are  as  reliable  as  are  the 
others.  Superimposed  upon  all  is  the  universal 
knowledge  of  the  fact  at  the  paternal  home  of 
the  party  herself,  and  which  is  cumulative  and 
no  wise  dependent  upon  the  clear  and  otherwise 
derived  knowledge  of  Mr.  Nail.  I  think  I  have 
read  all  that  has  been  published  on  this  subject; 
and,  while  it  is  of  none  but  speculative  interest, 
it  is  due  to  history  as  well  as  to  the  memory  of 
a  woman  who  should  be  revered  by  the  civilized 
world  everywhere,  that  her  own  and  her  mother's 
honor  and  reputation  should  be  assured.  Mr. 
Lincoln  says  his  mother  was  born  of  an  undistin- 
guished family,  and  I  claim  no  more,  nor  should 
the  world  believe  any  less.*  I  myself  know  one 
member  of  the  family  to  have  been  the  wife  of 
a  United  States  Judge  and  another  to  have  been 
the  wife  of  a  Governor  of  Kansas  and  a  United 
States  Minister.  It  was  an  humble  but  respect- 
able family  in  all  respects. 

All  things  being  ready,  as  well  in  the  pro- 

*  Secretary  Welles  states  that  Lincoln  said  when  he 
laid  down  his  official  life  he  would  endeavor  to  trace 
out  his  family  history.  See  also  "  The  Parents  of 
Abraham  Lincoln,"  Appendix  II.,  in  present  volume. 


1 8  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

gram  of  destiny  as  in  the  few  crude  arrange- 
ments of  the  parties  directly  involved,  Thomas 
Lincoln  journeyed  in  a  primitive  way  to  the  home 
of  Richard  Berry,  the  prospective  bride's  grand- 
father, at  Mattingly's  Mills,  and,  together  with 
Richard  Berry  Jr.,  cousin  to  the  bride-elect,  vis- 
ited the  county-seat  of  Washington  County,  and 
executed  a  marriage  bond  of  the  following  tenor 
and  import,  viz. : 

Know  all  men  by  these  presents,  that  Mr.  Thomas 
Lincoln  and  Richard  Berry  are  held  and  firmly  bound 
unto  his  excellency  the  Governor  of  Kentucky  in  the 
just  and  full  sum  of  Fifty  pounds  current  money;  to 
the  payment  of  which  well  and  truly  to  be  made  to 
the  said  Governor  and  his  successors,  we  bind  our- 
selves, our  heirs,  etc.,  jointly  and  severally,  firmly  by 
these  presents.  Sealed  with  our  seals  and  dated  this 
ioth  day  of  June  1806.  The  condition  of  the  above 
obligation  is  such  that  whereas  there  is  a  marriage 
shortly  intended  between  the  above  bound  Thomas 
Lincoln  and  Nancy  Hanks  for  which  a  license  has  been 
issued.  Now  if  there  be  no  lawful  cause  to  obstruct 
the  said  marriage,  then  this  obligation  to  be  void,  else 
to  remain  in  full  force  and  virtue  in  law. 

Thomas  Lincoln   [seal] 
Richard  Berry  [seal] 

Witness  :    John  H.  Parrott. 

And  the  Rev.  Jesse  Head,  D.  M.  E.  C,  certifies 
that  on  June  12,  1806,  he  joined  Thomas  Lincoln 
and  Nancy  Hanks  in  marriage.  According  to 
an  article  published  in  The  American,  a  Phila- 
delphia magazine  published  a  few  years  since,  it 
would  appear  that  one  John  Hank  lived  on  what 
is  now  the  Perkiomen  turnpike,  six  miles  east 
of  Reading  in  Exeter  Township,  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  within  half  a  mile  of  the  residence  of 
Mordecai  Lincoln,  who  would  be  the  great-great- 
grandfather of  the  President,  and  that  Hank  emi- 


'LINEAGE,  PARENTAGE,  CHILDHOOD      19 

grated  to  Augusta  County  in  Virginia  with  John 
Lincoln,  the  great-grandfather  of  the  President. 
In  171 1,  in  Berks  County,  Pennsylvania,  John 
Hank  married  one  Sarah  Evans  and  they  had  a 
son  born  the  next  year,  who  was  living  as  late 
as  1730,  as  his  father  mentions  him  in  his  will 
that  year.  The  Friends'  (Quakers')  record  in 
Baltimore,  still  extant,  mentions  one  John  Hanke 
as  living  in  Rockingham  County,  Virginia,  prob- 
ably the  same  who  emigrated  from  Berks  County, 
and  in  1787  Hannah,  a  daughter  of  John  Hanke, 
married  one  Asa  Lupton.  The  only  significant 
fact  about  this  information  is  that  the  Lincolns 
and  Hankses  were  alike  Quakers  and  neighbors, 
and  if  this  Hanke  was  the  progenitor  of  Nancy 
Hanks,  it  is  a  coincidence  that  the  ancestors  of 
both  should  have  been  close  neighbors,  and  that 
a  century  or  more  afterwards  two  members  of 
the  same  families  should  have  united  their  des- 
tinies with  such  mighty  results. 

The  only  basis  in  my  view  to  avouch  this  John 
Hanke  as  being  the  progenitor  of  the  President's 
mother  is  that  the  Kentucky  Hankses  came  from 
Virginia,  and  the  rarity  of  the  name,  superadded 
to  the  further  fact  of  the  Hankses'  and  Lincolns' 
intimacy,  and  the  quite  seeming  probability  that 
they  might  seek  the  same  new  home.  Thomas 
Lincoln  was  a  second  cousin  of  his  wife,  as  I 
show;  possibly  the  families  also  had  in  another 
branch  several  generations  of  neighborhood  in- 
timacy. 

It  has  been  assumed  by  biographers  generally 
that  immediately  upon  his  marriage  Thomas  Lin- 
coln brought  his  bride  to  Hardin  County,  and 
that  in  that  county  all  three  of  their  children 
were  born.     The  President  himself,  in  his  brief 


20  'LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

sketches  of  his  life,  says  he  was  born  in  Hardin 
County.* 

*  It  is  a  trait  common  to  all  men  to  be  interested  in 
the  place  of  their  birth,  and  therefore  there  is  every 
reason  to  believe  that  the  President  knew  his  own 
birthplace.  He  had  reached  the  age  of  clear  mind  and 
sound  memory  before  his  mother  died,  and  it  is  most 
unbelievable  that  he  would  have  received  any  confus- 
ing instruction  on  this  point  from  her.  Moreover, 
his  stepmother  was  an  intimate  friend  of  his  own 
mother  at  the  time  of  his  birth,  and  she  lived  until 
long  after  he  had  reached  manhood,  and  in  all  these 
years  she  supported  the  mother's  story  of  his  birth. 
This  ought  to  be  authority  enough  for  any  biographer. 
Indeed,  no  biographer  has  so  far  ventured  to  set  up  a 
counter  claim.  But  in  spite  of  this  authority  and  that 
of  more  than  one  hundred  copyrighted  biographies  of 
President  Lincoln,  there  are  still  a  few  people  in 
Washington  County,  Kentucky,  who  claim  that 
Abraham,  the  second  child  of  Thomas  and  Nancy 
Lincoln,  was  born  in  that  county.  It  is  a  matter  of 
record  that  the  first  child — Sarah — was  born  in  Eliza- 
bethtown,  which  is  in  Hardin  County,  and  that  Thomas 
and  Nancy  Hanks  Lincoln  moved  from  there  to  the 
farm  near  Hodgenville,  then  also  in  Hardin  County, 
and  now  in  LaRue  County,  where  Lincoln,  his 
mother,  and  his  stepmother  all  claimed  he  was  born, 
and  where  a  second  son,  named  William  Brumfield 
Lincoln  after  his  uncle  Brumfield,  probably  began  his 
short  life,  which  ended  at  the  age  of  four  or  five  years. 
In  the  summer  of  1906,  the  founders  of  the  Lincoln 
Farm  Association,  a  patriotic  body  organized  to 
preserve  the  Lincoln  birthplace  farm  as  a  national  park, 
made  a  thorough  investigation  of  the  Washington 
County  claims.  Their  lawyers  found  in  all  that  county 
but  four  people  who  claimed  to  have  any  knowledge  of 
the  matter,  and  each  of  these  stated  upon  oath  that  his 
belief  arose  from  the  statement  made  some  twenty 
years  before  by  an  old  citizen  over  ninety  years  of 
age,  (who  had  made  no  assertions  as  to  Lincoln's 
birthplace  until  his  memory  had  become  frail  through 
age,)  that  as  a  youth  he  had  seen  Nancy  Hanks  Lincoln 
in  Washington  County  with  a  babe  in  her  arms  whom 
he  supposed  to  be  Abraham  Lincoln. — M.  M.  M. 


LINEAGE,  PARENTAGE,  CHILDHOOD      21 

It  is  an  undisputed  fact  that  Thomas  Lincoln, 
within  a  year  or  so  after  his  marriage,  being 
prompted  by  a  roving  disposition,  and  the  land 
hunger  which  he  had  inherited  from  his  forbears, 
especially  his  father,  removed  his  family  to  a 
patch  of  ground  on  which  a  little  clearing  had 
been  made  and  a  cabin  erected,  situate  on  the 
south  branch  of  Nolin's  Creek,  three  miles  from 
the  present  village  of  Hodgenville,  county-seat 
of  LaRue  County,  and  that  in  this  rude  cabin,  in 
this  neglected  spot,  on  the  twelfth  day  of  Febru- 
ary, 1809,  the  most  illustrious  man  of  his  era 
was  born. 

The  cabin  was  of  the  rudest  kind  even  for 
those  days.  It  is  needless  to  attempt  to  describe 
it,  for  the  present  comfortably  housed  generation 
would  deem  such  description  to  have  been  woven 
in  the  loom  of  the  imagination.  It  suffices  to 
say,  which  I  do  reverently,  that  our  Saviour,  who 
was  born  in  a  stable,  had  a  birthplace  scarcely 
less  decent  than  the  typical  cabin  of  the  "poor 
white"  of  the  South  a  century  ago,  and  that  the 
advents  respectively  of  the  despised  Nazarene 
and  of  the  Kentucky  carpenter's  son,  the  one  the 
Saviour  of  the  world,  and  the  other  the  liberator 
of  a  race,  were  achieved  alike  amid  the  most 
desolate  surroundings,  even  for  the  primitive 
conditions  of  the  time. 

In  this  rude  cabin  the  little  stranger  lived  until 
he  had  attained  his  fourth  year.  As  there  were 
no  immediate  neighbors,  the  parents  and  the  two 
little  children  were  compelled  to  be  company  for 
each  other,  and  we  can  only  imagine — for  his- 
tory was  then  engaged  on  statelier  themes,  such 
as  the  career  of  Napoleon — what  their  daily  life 
could  have  arrayed  of  current  happiness,  as  a 


22  ^WCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

solace  for  prosaic  and  uneventful  poverty  and 
privation.  That  the  mother,  with  an  ambition 
and  enterprise  far  above  her  situation,  could  read 
and  write,  is  a  basis  of  fact  from  which  we  may 
reasonably  infer  that  she  was  wont  to  gather 
her  little  progeny  at  her  knee  and  instil  into  their 
infant  minds  the  rudiments  of  education  which 
would  lead  them  to  a  better  condition  of  life  than 
she  had  ever  known. 

Circumstances  rendered  it  expedient  for 
Thomas  Lincoln  to  remove  from  this  uninterest- 
ing place  to  one  more  desirable  on  the  banks  of 
Knob  Creek,  an  affluent  of  Rolling  Fork,  about 
six  miles  distant  from  Hodgenville,  which  re- 
moval occurred  in  the  spring  of  1813,  when 
young  Abraham  was  four  years  of  age. 

Both  father  and  mother  appreciated  the  value 
and  necessity  of  their  children's  education,  the 
former  superficially,  the  latter  substantially  and 
practically,  and  the  only  means  and  opportuni- 
ties the  country  afforded  for  any  means  of  edu- 
cation were  eagerly  embraced.  One  Zachariah 
Riney  taught  in  the  immediate  neighborhood, 
and  to  his  school  Abraham  and  his  sister  faith- 
fully went.  He  was  a  man  of  an  excellent  char- 
acter, deep  piety,  and  a  fair  education.  He  had 
been  reared  as  a  Catholic,  but  made  no  attempt 
to  proselyte,  and  the  still  existing  town  of 
Rineysville  in  Hardin  County  is  a  tribute  to  the 
estimation  in  which  his  family  is  held.  He  was 
extremely  popular  with  his  scholars,  and  the 
great  President  always  mentioned  him  in  later 
years  in  terms  of  grateful  respect.  At  a  later 
period,  Caleb  Hazel,  a  youth  with  a  little  smat- 
tering of  education,  "took  up"  a  school  some  four 
or  five  miles  distant,  and  the  faithful  and  ambi- 


LINEAGE,  PARENTAGE,  CHILDHOOD      23 

tious  mother  would  fix  up  her  little  ones  the  best 
she  could  and  send  them  diurnally  on  the  long 
journey.  She  was  persistent  in  her  determina- 
tion to  inculcate  education  in  their  youthful 
minds.  The  father's  enthusiasm  was  spasmodic 
and  unreliable ;  still  he  would  occasionally  glow 
with  pride  in  his  educational  plans  for  his  bright, 
intelligent  boy.  At  the  age  of  forty-five  Lincoln 
told  Swett  that  the  summum  bonum  of  his  father's 
ambition  was  to  give  his  boy  a  first-rate  educa- 
tion, and  that  his  ne  phis  ultra  of  such  an  educa- 
tion was  to  "larn  to  cipher  clean  through  the 
'rithmetic." 

In  1816  the  land  hunger  which  Thomas  Lin- 
coln had  inherited  from  his  father,  the  Virginia 
emigrant,  led  him  to  barter  his  imperfect  title  to 
his  farm  for  ten  barrels  of  rye  whiskey  and 
twenty  dollars  in  cash,  and  go  to  Indiana  on  a 
prospecting  tour,  with  a  view  to  emigration. 
Such  is  the  usual  explanation  of  modern  scien- 
tific biographers,  who  find  the  springs  of  mo- 
mentous events  in  human  impulses  rather  than 
in  divine  foreordination.  An  ancient  chronicler 
would  have  said :  "And  the  Angel  of  the  Lord 
came  to  Thomas,  and  commanded  that  he  take 
the  young  child  and  his  mother  and  depart  out 
of  that  country." 


CHAPTER  II 

YOUTH 

On-  the  Kentucky  shore,  below  Louisville,  in 
the  midst  of  Nature's  unkempt,  umbrageous,  and 
solemn  solitudes,  there  debouches  into  the  Ohio 
an  affluent  whose  pellucid  waters  gave  no  token 
of  the  broken  hopes,  withered  ambitions,  blasted 
reputations,  and  shattered  political  careers  which 
its  name  suggests  to  the  American  ear.  For  this 
is  the  renowned  Salt  River  of  our  political  myth- 
ology, the  stream  to  whose  headwaters  are  an- 
nually consigned  the  defeated  aspirants  for  elect- 
ive office,  and  which  is  more  melancholy  than 
the  classic  Styx  in  that  every  political  ghost  that 
journeys  upon  it  to  oblivion  must  serve  as  his 
own  Charon. 

It  was  on  the  "rolling  fork"  of  Salt  River 
that  Thomas  Lincoln,  in  the  fall  of  1816,  em- 
barked in  quest  of  a  new  home;  and  he  pursued 
that  stream  through  its  various  sinuosities  until 
it  joined  Salt  River  proper.  This  stream,  how- 
ever, had  not  yet  acquired  its  baleful  reputation, 
and  did  not  have  to  live  up  to  a  bad  character. 
So  Thomas  Lincoln  safely  steered  himself  and 
cargo  down  its  course  to  the  great  Ohio.  Per- 
versely enough,  this  river  belied  the  favorable 
name  by  which  the  early  French  voyageurs  had 
christened  it,  "La  Belle  Riviere."  Coming  out 
on  its  turbid  tide,  Lincoln's  boat  foundered,  and 

24 


YOUTH  25 

the  bulk  of  his  liquid  fortune  found  a  watery 
grave.  He  rescued  a  portion  of  it,  however,  with 
much  exertion,  and,  getting  afloat  again  with  his 
cargo  of  whiskey,  succeeded  in  navigating  the 
Ohio  River  to  a  point  in  Indiana  called  Thomp- 
son's Ferry.  Here  he  left  his  goods  at  a  cabin, 
and  started  through  the  trackless  forest  on  foot, 
in  quest  of  a  site  whereon  to  found  his  new 
home.  Sixteen  miles  distant,  he  came  to  a  place 
which  suited  his  fancy,  although  it  is  not  unlikely 
that  the  setting  sun  and  the  cravings  of  hunger, 
warning  him  to  seek  a  shelter,  had  some  bear- 
ing upon  his  choice  of  a  location. 

The  "numbers"  of  his  claim  were  Southwest 
quarter  of  Section  Thirty-two,  Town  Four 
South,  Range  Five  West.  The  place  thus  se- 
lected was  near  to  both  Big  and  Little  Pigeon 
Creek,  in  what  was  then  Perry,  but  thereafter 
became  Spencer  County.  Having  "notched"  the 
trees  upon  the  boundaries  of  his  claim,  and  made 
the  improvement  required  by  "squatter"  law, 
viz. :  to  pile  up  brush  as  an  inchoate  clearing, 
and  thus  completed  his  "claim,"  he  returned  to 
Knob  Creek  on  foot.  Loading  his  bedding,  kitchen 
utensils,  and  other  portable  property  on  two 
borrowed  horses,  and  gathering  his  little  family 
about  him,  he  then  began  his  hegira  from  a  State 
where  the  aristocracy  of  negro  ownership  was 
the  passport  of  respectability,  to  a  State  where 

The  honest  man,  though  e'er  sae  puir, 
Is  king  o'  men,  for  a'  that! 

Many  scenes,  replete  with  pathos,  are  pre- 
sented in  the  realistic  drama  of  the  American 
pioneer ;  and  this  was  one  of  them.  The  fall  had 
set  in;  the  nights  were  cold,  and  the  adjuncts  to 


26  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

comfort  while  camping-out  were  meagre.  The 
father  and  mother  were  compelled  to  walk.  The 
two  little  children,  aged  respectively  nine  and 
seven,  were  uncomfortably  disposed  among  the 
packs  with  which  the  horses  were  loaded.  Ar- 
rived at  the  Ohio  River,  the  horses  were  sent 
back  and  the  goods,  augmented  by  those  which 
had  been  transported  by  means  of  the  river,  were 
loaded  on  a  hired  wagon  and  hauled  out  to  the 
claim,  where  they  were  deposited.  Without  a 
single  domestic  animal,  three  miles  from  any 
neighbor,  with  no  protection  from  the  approach- 
ing winter  storms  but  the  now  leafless  trees,  no 
defence  from  the  cold  but  an  open  brush  fire, 
and  no  shelter  from  the  rude  weather  but  the  few 
ragged  clothes  they  chanced  to  have,  they  pre- 
sent to  the  imagination  a  picture  more  pitiable 
than  that  of  the  Pilgrims  on  Plymouth  Rock,  or, 
indeed,  of  any  of  the  more  spectacular  scenes  of 
pioneer  life. 

The  first  essential  enterprise  was  to  construct 
a  shelter  for  his  family,  and  the  father  went  reso- 
lutely at  work  to  fabricate  not  anything  arising 
to  the  dignity  of  a  cabin  but  a  camp.  Of  this  the 
mode  and  style  of  construction  were  as  follows : 
A  slightly  sloping  patch  of  ground  was  selected 
where  two  straight  trees  stood  about  fourteen 
feet  apart,  east  and  west  of  each  other.  The 
pioneer  then  cut  down  a  number  of  small  straight 
trees,  and  cut  the  tops  off,  so  that  the  finished 
product  would  be  fourteen  feet  long.  Then  the 
helpful  wife  would  trim  off  the  superfluous 
branches,  and  the  entire  family,  two  at  each  end 
of  a  log,  would  somehow  tug  the  logs  to  the 
place  needed.  Two-thirds  of  these  logs  would 
be  notched  at  one  end  and  flattened  at  the  other ; 


YOUTH  27 

and  the  remaining-  third  would  be  notched  at 
each  end.  The  two  trees  which  had  been  se- 
lected as  corner  posts  for  the  structure  were  de- 
nuded of  their  bark  on  the  sides  facing  each 
other,  and  the  prepared  logs  placed  in  position 
by  building  three  sides  of  a  crib,  pinning  the  flat 
ends  of  the  logs  to  the  trees  by  wooden  pins, 
to  receive  which  an  auger  hole  had  been  pre- 
viously bored  through  the  log  and  into  the  tree 
itself.  Thus  the  series  of  three  logs  superim- 
posed upon  each  other  formed  three  sides  of  the 
primitive  camp,  leaving  the  south  side  exposed 
to  the  weather.  A  roof  of  small  poles  and 
branches,  brush,  dried  grass,  and  any  other  suit- 
able material  which  could  be  gathered  up,  com- 
pleted the  camp,  into  which  their  little  furniture 
was  disposed,  and  dried  leaves  gathered  and 
arranged  in  the  two  corners  for  the  four  oc- 
cupants to  repose  on  when  night  should  spread 
her  sable  mantle  over  the  quiet  solitude.  The 
gaps  were  at  leisure  filled  up  with  branches,  mud, 
and  anything  which  could  be  procured.  A  log 
fire  kindled  and  kept  up,  night  and  day,  in  front 
of  the  camp,  completed  the  establishment.  Such 
an  aboriginal  structure  as  this  served  for  an  entire 
year  as  a  home  for  the  family  that  included  the 
most  famous  man  of  modern  times.  This  spe- 
cies of  home  was  not  inapt  for  a  pioneer  and  his 
family  in  the  summertime  or  in  good  weather ; 
but  when  drenching  storms  came,  or  a  south 
wind  drove  the  smoke  into  the  camp  so  as  to 
compel  evacuation  by  the  inmates,  it  was  ex- 
tremely uncomfortable,  if  not,  indeed,  intolerable. 
It  was,  in  fact,  a  hunter's  camp,  such  as  city 
men  even  now  are  wont  to  occupy  for  a  habita- 
tion during  a  few  weeks  of  good  weather,  for  the 


28  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

novelty  of  a  change  from  civilized  life.  For  a 
mother  and  young  children,  during  foul  and  fair 
weather  alike,  it  was,  however,  the  most  cruel 
travesty  of  a  home  that  can  well  be  conceived. 

Indiana  had  just  been  admitted  as  a  State,  and 
the  new  dignity  was  alluring  settlers  from  the 
neighboring  States  of  Kentucky  and  Ohio.  So 
iThomas  Lincoln,  the  pioneer  of  Pigeon  Creek, 
made  a  journey  to  Vincennes  to  make  his  land 
entry  from  the  government.  He  walked  all  the 
way,  going  and  coming.  Southern  Indiana  was 
then  a  dense  virgin  forest,  having  every  variety  of 
the  hard  woods  indigenous  to  that  zone.  "Var- 
mints," as  the  early  settlers  termed  them — wild- 
cats, opossums,  raccoons,  etc. — abounded;  like- 
wise deer,  wild  turkeys,  grouse,  quails,  and  pheas- 
ants. Indeed,  most  of  the  animal  food  was  pro- 
cured by  the  rifle. 

Nearby  the  Lincoln  settlement  was  a  famous 
"deer  lick" — a  low  place  where  saline  water  ex- 
udes from  the  ground,  and  to  which  wild  animals 
were  wont  to  repair  for  the  salt,  they  themselves 
forming  in  turn  objects  of  the  hunter's  quest. 
From  this  lick  the  Lincolns  derived  the  chief  part 
of  their  provender. 

Here,  in  the  forest  primeval,  on  the  backwater 
of  civilization,  this  little  family  of  four  pursued 
their  dull  round  of  existence  without  a  solitary 
bubble  of  the  zest  of  life.  They  rose  with  the 
robin  and  commenced  their  weary  round  of 
drudgery.  The  father  felled  trees;  the  mother 
lopped  off  the  branches;  the  little  ones  piled 
brush,  hoed  away  weeds,  and  walked  a  mile  to  the 
nearest  source  of  water  supply,  bearing  back  the 
heavy  burden  between  them.  There  was  not  a 
pair   of   shoes  among  the   four.      Home-made 


YOUTH  29 

moccasins  served  to  ward  off  the  snows  and 
frosts  of  winter. 

The  united  efforts  of  all  the  members  of  this 
little  family  served  to  keep  the  wolf  from  the 
door  and  also  to  show  some  progress  toward  a 
more  comfortable  state  of  existence;  and  in  one 
year  from  the  date  of  the  first  unpromising  settle- 
ment in  this  virgin  wilderness,  a  log  cabin,  situ- 
ated a  few  rods  distant  from  the  camp,  offered 
a  better  shelter,  and  gave  token  of  Thomas  Lin- 
coln's ambition,  and  of  his  advancement  towards 
a  higher  condition  of  life. 

This  cabin  was  formed  of  undressed  logs, 
about  eighteen  feet  square,  with  a  "stick-and- 
mud"  chimney;  a  hole  for  egress  and  ingress,  in 
which  was  hung  an  untanned  deer's  hide,  to  de- 
fend, in  some  sort,  against  the  assaults  of  the 
weather;  and  the  only  exterior  light  was  ac- 
quired through  the  imperfect  media  of  the  broad 
chimneyplace  and  the  cracks  between  the  logs. 
The  table  was  the  flat  surface  of  a  bisected  log, 
termed  a  puncheon,  into  which  were  inserted  four 
legs  by  means  of  an  auger.  In  lieu  of  chairs, 
there  were  small  puncheons  resting  upon  three 
legs.  In  lieu  of  bedsteads,  stout  poles  were  in- 
serted in  the  spaces  between  the  logs  which 
formed  the  cabin,  the  two  outer  ends  being  sup- 
ported by  a  crotched  stick,  driven  into  the  ground 
floor  of  the  wretched  abode.  The  bedding  and 
bedclothes,  dishes  and  cooking  utensils  were  in 
harmony  with  the  cabin  and  its  rustic  furniture; 
and  stout  pins  inserted  in  the  logs  constituted  a 
substitute  for  the  staircase  or  the  "elevator"  of 
civilization.  This  miserable  abode  was  embos- 
omed in  brush,  and  unadorned  with  any  sugges- 
tion of  refined  rusticity  or  halo  of  romance. 


3©  'LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

Lincoln's  report  of  the  new  country,  being  rose- 
ate, probably  more  than  facts  warranted,  in- 
duced some  of  his  Kentucky  neighbors  to  mi- 
grate thither;  and  accordingly  Mrs.  Lincoln's 
aunt  and  uncle,  Betsy  and  Thomas  Sparrow,  ar- 
rived at  the  Lincoln  place  in  November,  1817, 
bringing  with  them  Dennis  Hanks,  who  was  a 
cousin-german  to  Nancy  Hanks  Lincoln,  and,  of 
course,  a  second  cousin  to  the  future  President. 
This  family  camped  in  the  recently  deserted  camp 
of  the  Lincolns,  where  they  remained  till  they, 
too,  could  get  up  in  the  world  as  their  kinsman 
had  done. 

For  some  time  after  the  settlement  in  Indiana, 
there  was  no  school  in  that  primitive,  sparsely 
settled  neighborhood,  but  when  Abraham  was 
eleven  years  of  age  there  was  a  school  opened  in 
a  log  shanty  about  one  and  a  half  miles  distant 
from  his  home,  by  one  Hazel  Dorsey, — the  term 
"Hazel,"  which  formed  a  component  part  of  the 
teacher's  name,  being  supposed  to  refer  to  a  spe- 
cies of  twig  whose  use  in  the  rude  schoolroom 
was  auxiliary  to  good  scholarship.  Andrew 
Crawford  was  Abraham's  next  teacher,  his  min- 
istrations occurring  in  the  winter  of  1822-3,  as 
nearly  as  can  be  defined.  Finally  one  Swaney 
opened  a  school,  pronounced  by  him  skule,  about 
five  miles  from  the  Lincoln  home  in  1826,  which 
Lincoln  attended  for  a  very  short  time,  and  these 
three  schools  in  Indiana,  and  two  in  Kentucky, 
comprise  all  that  he  ever  attended ;  the  total  time 
consumed  (as  Lincoln  told  Swett)  being  about 
four  months  in  all.  And  such  schools !  If  eru- 
dition was  ponderable,  all  that  the  entire  five 
teachers  knew  could  have  been  compassed  in  a 
thimble.     The    future    President   himself    said: 


YOUTH  31 

"There  were  some  schools,  so-called,  but  no 
qualification  was  ever  required  of  a  teacher  be- 
yond readm',  writiri,  and  cipherin'  to  the  rule 
of  three.  If  a  straggler  supposed  to  understand 
Latin  happened  to  sojourn  in  the  neighborhood, 
he  was  looked  upon  as  a  wizard.  There  was  ab- 
solutely nothing  to  excite  ambition  for  education. 
Of  course,  when  I  came  of  age,  I  did  not  know 
much." 

At  the  time  when  Thomas  Lincoln  settled  in 
Indiana,  the  county  was  named  Perry,  and  its 
county-seat  was  known  as  Troy,  on  the  Ohio 
River,  but  the  country  settled  so  rapidly  that 
a  new  county  was  formed  called  Spencer,  the 
county-seat  of  which  was  Rockport.  A  few 
years  after  the  advent  of  the  Lincolns,  a  little 
trading-post  was  established  within  less  than  two 
miles  of  their  home,  which,  taking  its  name  from 
its  principal  settler,  was  denominated  Gentryville. 
Corydon,  the  county-seat  of  Harrison  County, 
was  then  also  the  State  capital,  it  having  been 
so  selected  when  the  State  was  admitted  into  the 
Union.  There  was  but  one  county  between  Har- 
rison and  Perry  counties. 

Although  Thomas  Lincoln  had  changed  his 
residence  from  a  camp  to  a  cabin,  it  was  not  an 
extremely  radical  change  from  discomfort  to 
comfort,  for  the  cabin  had  neither  a  door  nor  win- 
dows; egress  and  ingress  were  had  through  an 
opening  which  was  designed  ultimately  to  ac- 
commodate a  door.  The  house  was  likewise  in- 
nocent of  a  floor,  save  the  bare  and  naked  earth. 
These  omissions  appeared  all  the  more  signifi- 
cant and  objectionable  from  the  better  order  of 
things  in  that  line,  inherent  in  the  surroundings 
of  other  settlers,  who  were  rapidly  settling  in  the 


3*  'LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

neighborhood.  Poor  children !  Young  Abe  and 
his  sister  could  not  but  observe  with  longing  eyes 
the  newly  erected  cabins  of  the  newcomers  re- 
joicing in  puncheon  floors,  doors  from  boards 
hewed  out  of  a  straight-grained  log,  with  oc- 
casionally a  glazed  sash  to  admit  light. 

This  beautiful  Pigeon  Creek  valley,  like  all 
sublunary  pleasures,  had  its  sting,  its  fly  in  the 
ointment.  A  disease  equally  to  be  dreaded  with 
the  cholera,  and  very  similar  alike  in  its  manifes- 
tations and  fatality,  brooded  like  a  spell  over  it, 
making  it  "a  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death." 
It  prevailed  in  the  wooded  regions  of  both  In- 
diana and  Illinois,  and  was  called,  in  the  homely 
and  inaccurate  vernacular  of  those  regions, 
"milk  sick."  It  was  a  mysterious  disease,  and 
baffled  science  and  medicine  alike.  In  less  than 
two  years  from  the  settlement  of  Thomas  Lin- 
coln on  Pigeon  Creek,  his  wife,  and  her  uncle 
and  aunt,  all  succumbed  to  this  dread  disease  and 
died ;  and  Thomas  Lincoln  by  the  aid  of  a  neigh- 
bor constructed  with  a  whipsaw  from  the  native 
timber  coffins  for  each  of  these  three  victims. 
In  the  primeval  forest,  the  remains  of  Nancy 
Hanks  Lincoln  were  placed  in  a  rude  box,  made 
from  native  lumber,  a  very  much  coarser  recep- 
tacle than  fruit  trees  are  transported  in  by  nur- 
serymen at  this  day;  and  in  the  presence  and 
by  the  aid  of  a  mere  handful  of  the  neighbors, 
without  ceremony,  unanointed  and  unaneled, 
were  committed  to  the  grave.  Even  the  grave 
remained  without  the  slightest  attempt  at  cul- 
ture or  adornment  until  1879,  when  Mr.  P.  E. 
Studebaker  of  South  Bend,  Ind.,  having  heard  of 
it,  proposed  to  Hon.  Schuyler  Colfax  to  head  a 
subscription  with  fifty  dollars  in  order  to  mark 


YOUTH  33 

the  spot  with  a  suitable  monument.  Colfax  as- 
sured him  that  the  sum  of  fifty  dollars  alone 
would  provide  a  monument  sufficient  and  in  har- 
mony with  the  surroundings.  The  philanthro- 
pist thereupon  caused  to  be  erected  a  very  neat 
marble  monument,  although  the  exact  spot 
where  the  inanimate  body  crumbled  into  dust  is 
involved  in  some  doubt.  It  bears  this  inscrip- 
tion :  "Nancy  Hanks  Lincoln,  mother  of  Presi- 
dent Lincoln.  Died  October  5th,  a.d.  1818,  aged 
35  years.  Erected  by  a  friend  of  her  martyred 
son,  1879." 

The  mother  thus  commemorated  was  a  woman 
"of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief."  She 
was  a  child  of  the  frontier,  whose  whole  brief 
life  was  employed  in  removing  from  one  frontier 
post  to  another,  and  carving  out  from  the  rude 
wilderness  a  frontier  home. 

In  the  little  group  which  followed  the  body  of 
this  most  faithful  wife  and  mother  to  its  last 
abode  was  one  who  was  not  satisfied  with  this 
heathen  burial ;  and  he  set  himself  resolutely  at 
work  to  retrieve  this  neglect,  and  to  secure  to  the 
burial  of  his  revered  mother  an  ex  post  facto 
ceremony  and  semblance  of  a  Christian  inter- 
ment. In  those  days,  in  the  frontier,  stated  and 
periodical  ministrations  from  the  sacred  desk 
were  not  an  institution  on  account  of  the  paucity 
and  poverty  of  the  people.  The  pioneers,  however, 
were  content  to  accept  the  pious  offices  of  such 
migratory  clergymen  as  might  chance  to  sojourn 
over  Sunday  in  the  neighborhood, in  their  wander- 
ings. And  thus  a  few  years  after  his  mother's 
death,  young  Abraham  with  considerable  diplo- 
macy for  a  lad  of  ten  years,  contrived  to  have 
an  itinerant  preacher  named  Daniel  Elkin  deliver 


34  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

a  funeral  discourse,  commemorative  of  the  mer- 
its and  humble  and  unobtrusive  virtues  of  this 
modern  Mary — the  mother  of  one  charged  with 
a  mission  akin  to  the  Divine ! 

Meanwhile,  the  desolation  of  that  little  humble 
household  aroused  the  sympathy  of  the  few 
neighbors,  who  "took  turns"  in  aiding  the  youth- 
ful housekeeper,  but  a  little  turned  of  eleven 
years  of  age,  to  maintain  in  semi-comfort  this 
semblance  of  a  home.  Sarah  Lincoln,  however, 
possessed  the  heroism  and  resolution  of  her  de- 
parted mother,  and  entered  with  fidelity  into  the 
duties  of  the  little  household,  now  increased  by 
the  presence  of  Dennis  Hanks,  whose  home  had 
been  broken  up  by  the  death  of  his  uncle  and 
aunt. 

As  must  be  apparent,  a  house  presided  over  by 
a  child  of  eleven  years  could  not  be  expected  to 
be  strongly  suggestive  of  home  comforts. 

That  Thomas  Lincoln  himself  was  not  obliv- 
ious of  this  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  he  gath- 
ered together  what  little  capital  he  could,  spruced 
up  a  little,  and  in  the  ensuing  fall  set  off  on  a  visit 
to  the  scenes  of  his  youth  in  Kentucky,  to  pro- 
cure a  wife  to  solace  his  lonely  hours  and  to  serve 
as  a  mother  to  his  neglected  children. 

As  I  have  said,  when  he  formed  his  alliance 
with  Nancy  Hanks,  he  had  paid  attention  to  Sal- 
lie  Bush.  Sallie  had  married  one  Johnston,  who 
afterwards  became  the  jailer  of  Hardin  County, 
an  office  then  held  in  higher  honor  than  it  is  now. 
Now  Mrs.  Johnston  was  not  only  a  rare  woman, 
as  the  sequel  fully  attests,  but  she  also  was  a 
most  excellent  housekeeper,  and  a  faithful  and 
devoted  mother.  Thomas  was  a  shrewd  ob- 
server, and  the  death  of  Johnston  about  the  time 


YOUTH  35 

he  had  lost  his  own  companion  giving  him  oppor- 
tunity, with  characteristic  energy  and  directness 
of  purpose  he  resolved  to  lay  close  siege  to  the 
affections  of  the  widow  and  force  an  early  capitu- 
lation. Accordingly,  upon  his  arrival  in  Eliza- 
bethtown,  he  at  once  repaired  to  the  home  of  the 
fair  widow,  who  lived  with  her  two  girls  and 
one  boy.  He  must  have  arranged  matters  satis- 
factorily in  one  interview,  for  the  next  day  he 
married  the  widow.  As  a  wedding  present  he 
paid  all  her  small  debts,  the  amount  being  about 
twelve  dollars.  On  the  succeeding  day  the 
second-hand  bride,  the  second-hand  bridegroom, 
three  children,  and  a  comfortable  load  of  furni- 
ture and  bedding  were  en  route  to  the  new  home, 
where  the  two  neglected,  motherless,  and  lonely 
children  were  doing  the  best  they  could,  pain- 
fully to  wear  out  the  time  till  the  father  should 
return  with  the  "surprise"  that  he  had  probably 
promised  them. 

Sallie  Bush,  who  was  thus  predestined  to  be  a 
second  mother  to  the  great  President,  came  from 
one  of  the  most  numerous  and  most  respectable 
families  in  that  part  of  Kentucky.  One  of  her 
nephews  is  Hon.  W.  P.  D.  Bush,  a  leading  law- 
yer of  Frankfort,  Ky.,  who  was  the  State  re- 
porter from  1866  to  1878.  Another  was  Hon. 
S.  W.  Bush,  one  of  the  leading  lawyers  of  Har- 
din County,  and  a  third,  Hon.  Robert  Bush,  hold- 
ing a  similar  rank  at  Hawesville.  A  niece  was 
the  wife  of  Hon.  Martin  H.  Cofer  of  Elizabeth- 
town,  who  was  a  Circuit  Judge  of  that  Circuit, 
and  became  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Appeals  in 
August,  1874,  for  the  term  of  eight  years,  serving 
also  as  Chief  Justice  from  1879  till  his  death. 
This  distinguished  family  were  very  devoted  to 


36  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

their  aunt,  and  also  have  a  high  respect  for  the 
memory  of  Thomas  Lincoln.  They  resent  even 
now  any  imputation  upon  his  moral  worth.  He 
was  not  eminent  as  a  financier,  so  neither  was  his 
illustrious  son.  A  granddaughter  of  one  of  the 
Elizabethtown  merchants  has  her  grandfather's 
account  books,  which  attest  that  Thomas  Lincoln 
was  an  excellent  and  prompt  customer,  if  not, 
indeed,  an  extravagant  one,  for  living  in  a  com- 
munity that  used  hickory  bark  for  suspenders,  he 
at  one  time  indulged  in  "one  pair  silk  suspenders, 

$1.50." 

Abraham's  inner  life  was  a  desert  of  sorrow 
with  an  occasional  oasis  watered  by  well-springs 
of  happiness.  And  probably  the  greenest  spot 
in  his  memory  was  the  sight  of  his  father,  re- 
turning after  a  week's  absence,  driving  a  four- 
horse  team  hitched  to  a  heavily  loaded  wagon, 
which,  on  its  arrival,  diclosed  a  quantity  of 
homely  and  substantial  household  goods,  and, 
what  was  even  more  joy-inspiring,  a  considerate, 
motherly-looking  woman,  who,  clasping  the  neg- 
lected boy  and  girl  to  her  heart,  and  calling 
them  Abe  and  Sallie,  told  them  that  henceforth 
she  was  to  be  their  mother,  and  that  the  three 
children  who  had  climbed  down  from  the  load 
and  were  shyly  hiding  behind  her,  were  also  to 
be  their  brother  and  sisters.  How  Abe's  tender 
heart  glowed  with  gladness  and  gratitude  as  he 
saw  feather-beds  and  blankets,  coverlids  and 
tablecloths,  chairs  and  "stand  tables"  loaded  into 
the  small  cabin,  usurping  nearly  the  whole  space ! 

Joy  reigned  supreme  in  the  little  Lincoln  cabin 
that  evening  as  the  augmented  family  sat  down 
to  the  first  good  meal  which  had  graced  the  lit- 
tle puncheon  table  since  Nancy  Hanks  had  taken 


YOUTH  37 

to  her  bed  with  the  fatal  "milk  sick."  And  as, 
at  a  late  hour,  Abe  climbed  into  the  loft  with  a 
companion  whom  he  had  already  learned  to  call 
"John,"  and  sank  into  the  tender  embrace  of  the 
most  comfortable  bed  he  had  ever  known,  and 
compared  notes  and  experiences  with  his  new 
brother  till  a  late  hour,  it  is  safe  to  assert  that 
no  such  fine  and  unadulterated  happiness  ever 
visited  him  afterwards. 

Mr.  Lincoln  once  told  me  (in  1856)  that  John 
D.  Johnston,  his  foster-brother,  was  about  his 
own  age,  and  that  he  loved  him  as  if  he  had  been 
his  own  brother ;  and  yet  John  grew  up  to  be  one 
of  the  laziest  and  most  shiftless  of  mortals.  He 
constantly  appealed  to  Lincoln  for  aid  for  himself 
and  his  progeny.  I  myself  once  strained  a  point, 
for  Lincoln's  sake,  to  save  Johnston's  son  William 
from  the  penitentiary.  And  it  is  to  the  infinite 
credit  of  the  great  President  that  he  adhered  to, 
and  came  to  the  assistance  of,  not  only  his  father 
and  step-mother,  and  never  deserted  them,  but 
that  his  fidelity  even  to  the  utterly  worthless  child 
of  this  remote  connection  was  equally  tenacious. 

Almost  the  last  act  he  performed  in  Illinois 
was  to  visit  his  step-mother.  On  the  morning 
he  started,  he  urged  me  to  go  with  him,  and,  in 
fact,  I  went  with  him  part  way,  and  I  have  al- 
ways since  regretted  that  I  did  not  accompany 
him  during  the  entire  journey. 

His  deep  and  earnest  affection  for  his  step- 
mother was  returned  in  full  measure  by  her. 
"Abe  was  the  best  boy  I  ever  saw  or  ever  expect 
to  see,"  was  her  summing-up  of  his  character. 
As  she  parted  with  him  at  Charleston,  111.,  on 
the  third  day  of  February,  1861,  this  old  lady, 
.whose  whole  life  had  been  one  of  unobtrusive 


38  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

goodness,  embracing  the  President-elect,  had  a 
presentiment  that  it  was  their  last  meeting — a 
premonition  which  was  afterwards  so  completely 
fulfilled.  She  had  dimly  known  by  the  loose  talk 
in  her  little  rustic  neighborhood  of  the  mighty 
issues  involved  in  her  loved  stepson's  election, 
and  she  already  saw,  in  her  prophetic  vision,  the 
collision  of  a  mighty  people,  and  in  this  mighty 
conflict  she  felt  that  the  central  and  pivotal  figure 
could  not  escape. 

And  Abraham  Lincoln  experienced  the  ma- 
ternal solicitude,  sympathy,  and  kindness  of  his 
second  mother  in  all  ways.  This  most  excellent 
woman  and  model  step-mother  brought  comfort- 
able things  and  essential  domestic  reforms  to 
pass,  without  any  jar  or  apparent  effort.  First 
a  "shutter"  appeared  in  the  opening  for  a  door; 
next,  a  puncheon  floor  was  laid,  and,  anon,  a 
half-glazed  sash  admitted  light.  Clean  beds, 
clean  clothes,  clean  towels,  clean  tablecloths 
were  all  in  place.  The  wash-day  came  regularly, 
good  fare  graced  the  table,  order  was  enthroned. 
The  family  altar  was  inaugurated,  and  the  family 
hearth  assumed  a  sacredness  begotten  of  preva- 
lent good  cheer,  happiness,  and  the  amenities 
which  sweeten  existence.  The  dooryard  was 
cleaned  of  unsightly  litter,  a  brood  of  fowls  lent 
animation  to  the  scene,  and  material  comfort  dis- 
sipated the  soul's  melancholy.  If  Nancy  Hanks 
Lincoln  were  conscious  of  the  rare  fidelity  with 
which  Sarah  Bush  Lincoln  executed  the  trust  of 
maternal  solicitude  to  her  children,  her  perturbed 
spirit  at  last  found  rest. 

New  settlers  flocked  into  the  neighborhood; 
a  store  was  instituted  nearby ;  stated  religious 
services  followed;  systematic  social  intercourse 


YOUTH  39 

among  the  young  folks  ensued ;  and  ere  long,  in 
all  directions,  the  ruddy  and  cheerful  blaze  of 
hearth-fires,  gleaming  through  clear  window 
panes  instead  of  oiled  paper,  attested  the  advent 
of  real  civilization.  To  the  genial  requirements 
of  this  new  order  of  life,  Abraham  Lincoln  was 
no  delinquent.  The  entertaining  qualities  which 
were  captivating  in  his  manhood's  prime,  found 
exuberant  vent  in  his  youthful  glow.  Boylike, 
he  was  frivolous  rather  than  sedate,  reckless 
rather  than  responsible,  and  the  mental  vigor  and 
volume  which  evolved  the  Cooper  Institute 
speech  or  yielded  the  Emancipation  Proclama- 
tion, were  expended  in  satirical  poems  and  coarse 
pasquinades,  which  had  no  apparent  range  or 
objects  beyond  diversion  or  petty  social  revenges, 
and  were  confined  to  the  fleeting  moment  and 
to  the  little  backwoods  coterie  which  was  wont 
to  gather  in  the  store  or  blacksmith's  shop  at 
Gentryville,  or  in  the  "corn-huskings"  or  "log- 
rollings" thereabouts. 

Abe  was  no  empty-headed  country  beau,  how- 
ever. He  was  even  then  more  of  a  student  than 
gallant.  A  story  is  told  of  a  conversation  he 
had,  under  idyllic  circumstances,  with  a  pretty 
girl  of  fifteen,  where  his  playing  the  schoolmas- 
ter instead  of  the  lover  was  rather  resented  by 
his  fair  companion.  As  the  two  young  people 
sat  barelegged  on  a  log  and  dangled  their  feet 
in  the  limpid  waters  of  Little  Pigeon  Creek,  and 
talked  the  light  and  frothy  chatter  of  their  age, 
the  sun  sank  low  in  the  west,  and  the  little  miss 
exclaimed :  "See,  Abe,  the  sun's  going  down !" 
"No,"  returned  Abe  with  the  importance  of  su- 
perior knowledge,  "the  sun  doesn't  go  down ;  it's 
we  that  do  the  sinking."     But  the  pert  auditor 


4°  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

ended  the  explanation  with  the  conclusive  re- 
joinder, "Abe,  you're  a  fool." 

At  the  age  of  seventeen,  he  was  six  and  a 
third  feet  high,  his  feet  and  hands  were  unusu- 
ally large,  and  his  legs  and  arms  disproportion- 
ately long;  his  head  was  small  and  phrenologi- 
cally  defective ;  his  body  very  diminutive  for  one 
of  his  height.  His  walk  was  awkward ;  his  ges- 
tures still  more  so ;  his  skin  was  of  a  dirty  yellow- 
ish brown,  and  shrivelled  and  baggy,  even  at  that 
age.  He  was  attired  in  buckskin  pants  which 
failed  to  conceal  his  blue  shinbones ;  his  shirt  was 
of  a  fabric  known  to  pioneer,  and  to  no  other  life, 
as  linsey-woolsey;  and  in  winter  he  was  clad  in 
what  is  known  as  a  warmas;  and  finally,  a  coon- 
skin  cap,  home-made,  and  moccasins,  also  home- 
made, protected  and  decorated  respectively  his 
upper  and  nether  extremities.  He  was  bizarre- 
looking,  even  in  that  primitive  community. 

Abraham  Lincoln,  whether  as  boy  or  man,  was 
not  enamoured  of  steady,  hard  work  ;  he  preferred 
a  variety  of  tasks,  chiefly  mental  labor.  He  was 
by  no  means  lazy,  but  was  fond  of  frequent 
change.  Accordingly,  throughout  his  youthful 
career,  he  is  seen  to  select  such  engagements  and 
avocations  as  allowed  him  to  interweave  variety 
with  industry  and  mental  labor  or  recreation  with 
muscular  labor.  "Going  to  mill"  was  a  favorite 
avocation  with  him,  as  it  had  been  with  Henry 
Clay,  "the  Mill-boy  of  the  Slashes."  Abe  rode 
seven  miles  to  a  treadmill,  into  which,  on  his  ar- 
rival, he  put  his  horse  to  furnish  the  power  for 
grinding.  On  one  of  these  occasions  young 
Abe's  horse  kicked  him,  so  that  he  was  uncon- 
scious for  quite  a  while.  On  recovering  his 
senses,  he  completed  a  sentence  that  he  was  in 


YOUTH  41 

the  midst  of  uttering  when  the  accident  took 
place.  In  after  life  he  was  fond  of  speculating 
upon  this  psychological  phenomenon. 

One  of  the  early  settlers  paints  the  moral  por- 
trait of  this  region  in  the  primitive  days  of  its 
settlement  in  sombre  colors.  "The  settlers  were 
very  sociable  and  accommodating,  but  there  was 
more  drunkenness  and  larceny  on  a  small  scale, 
more  immorality,  less  religion,  less  confidence." 

One  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  youthful  characteristics, 
and  one  which  adhered  to  him  through  life,  was 
his  uniform  kindness  to  any  and  all  living  things. 
A  favorite  pastime  with  boys  of  Pigeon  Creek 
was  to  catch  a  mud  "terkle,"  and  put  a  live  coal 
on  his  back  in  order  to  enjoy  the  diversion  of 
witnessing  him  writhe  with  pain.  The  youthful 
humanitarian  was  wont  to  inveigh,  in  emphatic 
terms,  against  this  barbarism ;  sometimes  putting 
his  thoughts  and  monitions  on  paper,  and  read- 
ing them  to  the  boys.  Another  peculiarity  of  his 
youth  and  manhood  alike  was  a  habit  of  superfi- 
cial and  desultory  reading.  A  short  book  he 
might  read  entirely  through ;  a  long  one  he  would 
read  conscientiously  for  a  few  chapters,  and  then 
skim  through  the  rest.  Such  books  as  Weems's 
"Washington"  he  would  read  through  consecu- 
tively ;  "Robinson  Crusoe"  he  would  not  read  by 
rote,  but  would  select  chapters  to  suit  his  fancy, 
and  ultimately,  perhaps,  read  all;  "yEsop's 
Fables"  and  Bunyan's  "Pilgrim's  Progress"  he 
would  read  in  patches. 

He  was  inordinately  fond  of  books,  but  was  not 
fond  of  consuming  a  great  amount  of  time  with 
any  particular  one,  at  any  one  time.  A  specific- 
ally verbose  book  he  never  read  clear  through, 
unless  at  wide  intervals  of  time.     He  was  prone 


4»  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

to  jot  down  anything  of  philosophy,  poetry,  or 
history  which  arrested  his  attention  strongly. 
This  was  not  done  so  much  to  preserve  it,  as  to 
fix  the  thought  embodied  or  fact  narrated  firmly 
in  his  memory.  After  writing  it  he  would  study 
it,  then  lay  it  aside  for  a  time,  then  recur  to  it; 
if,  on  consideration  and  reconsideration,  it  struck 
him  as  superlatively  valuable,  he  would  try  to 
retain  it.  And  he  had  unused  sheets  of  paper, 
copybooks,  fly-leaves  of  books,  etc.,  on  which 
he  preserved  these  memoranda,  sticking  them  in 
out-of-the-way  places.  Books  were  rare  and 
scarce  in  the  days  of  his  youth.  Thomas  Lincoln 
owned  literally  none  but  the  Bible.  His  illus- 
trious son's  early  acquaintance  with  any  litera- 
ture beyond  the  domain  of  primary  schoolbooks 
was  derived  from  those  which  he  could  borrow 
from  neighbors.  The  sources  of  supply,  how- 
ever, were  of  an  extremely  attenuated  character. 
A  neighbor  named  Josiah  Crawford  possessed  a 
copy  of  Weems's  "Washington,"  a  highly  spiced, 
mendacious,  and  stupid  string  of  anecdotes  of 
the  early  days  in  Virginia  and  elsewhere,  euphe- 
mistically termed  "a  Life  of  Washington."  Abra- 
ham readily  borrowed  it,  and  read  and  studied 
it  of  evenings.  One  night  it  was  ruined  by  rain, 
and  Lincoln  at  once  sought  the  lender,  and  re- 
ported the  loss,  and  the  superfluous  fact  that  he 
had  not  the  wherewithal  to  pay.  An  agreement 
was  therefore  made  that  young  Abe  should  pull 
fodder  for  three  days  in  repayment.  There  does 
not  appear  anything  out  of  the  way  in  all 
this ;  wages  were  very  low  then  and  books  very 
rare ;  there  was  no  bookstore  nearer  than  Louis- 
ville, and  the  loss  of  a  needed  book  in  that  neigh- 
borhood was  well-nigh  irreparable.     It  is  even 


YOUTH  43 

doubtful  if  Crawford  would  voluntarily  have  ex- 
changed the  book  for  three  days'  labor  of  a  lad, 
but  Lincoln,  somehow,  took  great  umbrage  at 
Crawford's  animus  in  the  matter,  as  well  as  at 
the  conditions  exacted ;  and  thereafter  was  wont, 
for  the  amusement  of  the  neighborhood  to  sati- 
rize the  offender  in  the  coarsest  and  most  sug- 
gestive doggerel, using  Crawford's  physical  short- 
comings as  a  text.  This  reprehensible  trait  of 
character  did  not  adhere  to  Mr.  Lincoln  beyond 
his  youthful  prime;  he  abandoned  it,  as  he  grew 
and  expanded  in  intellect,  together  with  sundry 
other  foibles,  and  as  a  man  was  as  magnanimous 
and  charitable  as  he  was  revengeful  and  satirical 
as  a  youth. 

Lying  down  was  Lincoln's  favorite  attitude 
while  reading  or  studying.  This  remained  a  habit 
with  him  throughout  life.  He  also  was  fond  of 
reading  while  at  table.  He  always  enjoyed  read- 
ing aloud,  or  commenting  on  a  book  to  a  compan- 
ion, whoever  he  might  be.  I  once  knew  of  his  mak- 
ing a  pupil  of  a  hostler  in  his  study  of  Euclid 
on  the  circuit.  He  did  not,  like  Archimedes, 
run  through  the  streets  crying  "Eureka !"  but  he 
was  so  joyous  at  his  geometrical  lesson  that  he 
must  share  his  happiness,  even  though  he  could 
find  no  better  auditor  than  a  stableman. 

In  his  youth,  Lincoln  might  have  been  encoun- 
tered in  a  cabin  loft,  or  under  a  tree,  or  anywhere 
in  the  shade,  or  in  some  out-of-the-way  place,  in- 
tent on  his  book.  He  would  record  his  lucubra- 
tions on  a  wooden  fire  shovel,  then  shave  it  off 
with  a  draw-knife,  and  repeat  the  performance. 
While  in  the  field  at  work  he  would  be  immersed 
in  deep  thought.  As  soon  as  he  reached  his  home 
or  his  shelter,  he  would  resume  his  book,  if  he  had 


44  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

one,  or  his  charcoal  sketches,  if  he  had  none.  If 
he  could  not  obtain  manual  possession  of  a  book 
by  borrowing,  he  would  repair  to  the  place  where 
it  was  and  thus  use  it.  Among  other  books  which 
he  read  in  that  way  was  the  "Statutes  of  Indiana," 
which  one  Turnham,  a  constable,  possessed,  ex 
officio.  This  gave  him  an  inclination  toward  the 
profession  of  law. 

Abraham  exhibited  a  proclivity  for  public 
speaking  at  an  early  age ;  anywhere  that  he  could 
gather  a  crowd  he  was  ready  with  a  speech.  His 
addresses  were  generally  germane  to  the  sur- 
rounding conditions,  and  "sometimes  turned  out 
a  song,  and  sometimes  turned  out  a  sermon." 
Not  infrequently,  of  a  Sabbath  when  the  old  folks 
were  at  "meetin',"  the  youthful  orator  would 
edify  the  young  folks  at  home  by  an  improvised 
sermon.  Upon  such  occasions,  he  would  adopt 
the  usual  order  of  religious  exercises,  the  prayer 
alone  being  omitted.  A  hymn  would  be  selected 
and  sung  by  the  juvenile  audience.  His  preach- 
ing frequently  drew  tears  from  his  sympathetic 
auditory,  in  which,  occasionally,  he  would  join. 

In  the  cornfield,  his  oratorical  powers  fre- 
quently were  in  demand.  Often  when  a  resting 
spell  came,  Abe  would  mount  half-way  of  the 
fence,  and  steadying  himself  on  the  remainder, 
would  thrill  or  amuse  his  hearers  by  a  speech, 
sometimes  political,  sometimes  polemical,  some- 
times jocular.  He  never  failed  to  create  an  in- 
terest; in  fact,  his  oratory  was  a  great  nuisance 
to  employers  who  were  interested  that  the  work 
should  be  speedily  performed.  Another  quality 
which  adhered  to  him  during  his  entire  life  was 
his  good  humor,  leading  to  a  personal  popularity 
with  those  with  whom  he  came  in  close  contact. 


YOUTH  45 

Wherever  he  worked,  he  would  find  his  way 
speedily  to  the  kitchen,  where  he  would  rock  the 
cradle,  or  draw  water,  wash  dishes,  or  empty 
slops;  meanwhile  amusing  all  present  with  drol- 
lery or  humor.  Some  of  the  men  were  inimical 
to  him,  but  there  was  not  a  woman  but  who  was 
extravagant  in  her  laudations,  even  including  Jo- 
siah  Crawford's  wife,  whose  husband  he  had  so 
mercilessly  lampooned. 

His  step-mother  thought  quite  as  much  of  him 
as  of  her  own  children;  his  step-brother  and 
sisters  were  as  devoted  to  him  as  to  each  other, 
while  his  own  sister  idolized  him.  The  closer 
the  attrition  with  Lincoln,  the  more  ardent  and 
close  the  cordiality  of  the  friendship.  He  was 
ever  the  best  of  boys  and  men,  and  had  always 

.     .     .     a  tear  for  pity, 
And  a  hand  open  as  day  for  melting  charity. 

When  he  was  sixteen  years  old,  he  entered 
into  the  service  of  one  Taylor,  who  owned  and 
operated  a  ferry  franchise  across  the  Ohio  at  the 
mouth  of  Anderson  Creek.  Here  Lincoln  re- 
mained as  a  boy-of-all-work,  for  nearly  a  year, 
earning  six  dollars  a  month ;  and  at  another  time 
both  he  and  his  sister  were  hired  out  to  Josiah 
Crawford,  the  former  as  a  field  hand,  the  latter 
as  kitchen-maid.  There  is  hardly  a  field  within 
a  radius  of  two  miles  of  Gentryville  in  which  the 
great  Emancipator  has  not  wrought  at  the  hum- 
blest of  labor  for  what  would  now  be  deemed  in- 
significant wages. 

It  was  noticeable  to  companions  that,  when 
Abraham  had  attained  the  age  of  eleven  years  or 
thereabouts,  he  fell  into  that  habit  of  abstraction, 


46  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

absent-mindedness,  and  self-introspection  which 
constituted  so  marked  and  prominent  a  feature 
in  his  character  in  his  later  days.  Whereas  he 
presented  no  appearance  of  gravity  or  decorum 
theretofore,  he  suddenly  awoke  to  a  deep  sense 
of  responsibility;  and  gravity  of  manner  usurped 
the  former  characteristics  of  frivolity  and  mental 
vacuity. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  versatile  genius,  whether  as 
man  or  boy.  His  mind  was  constantly  on  the 
go;  he  hopped  about  from  one  thing  to  another, 
never  adhering  to  one  thing  long.  He  wrote 
doggerel  poetry  of  no  merit  whatever;  it  was 
sometimes  didactic,  occasionally  philosophical, 
but  generally  satirical.  A  single  day's  labor  was 
a  composite  of  story-telling,  studying  all  the 
primitive  studies  then  known  to  his  locale,  writ- 
ing Chronicles  (as  he  called  them)  in  derision  of 
some  one  who  exhibited  ludicrous  phases  of  char- 
acter, doing  chores  from  choice  and  more  robust 
work  from  compulsion,  with  occasional  lapses 
into  earnest  and  sombre  reflection. 

Gentryville  was  a  little  world  by  itself.  No 
circus  or  lecturer  ever  came  within  its  borders. 
Its  inhabitants  lived  within  themselves,  and  en- 
tertained each  other  the  best  they  could  in  a 
social  style,  and  while  Lincoln  was  in  great  de- 
mand as  an  entertainer  and  otherwise,  he  yet  had 
to  endure  rebuffs  which  he  took  as  seriously  to 
heart  as  if  he  had  been  fashioned  in  an  ordinary 
mould  of  humanity.  A  noted  instance  of  the 
truth  of  the  Scriptural  adage  that  "the  stone 
which  the  builders  rejected,  the  same  is  made  the 
headstone  of  the  corner,"  appeared  in  the  great 
double  wedding  of  two  sons  of  Reuben  Grigsby, 
which  important  occurrence  was  closed  by  a  gor- 


YOUTH  47 

geous  infare.  To  this  great  social  demonstra- 
tion Abraham  was  not  invited,  although  every 
other  young  person  in  the  neighborhood,  includ- 
ing his  own  sister,  was.  And  he  took  a  terri- 
ble social  revenge,  for  he  put  in  commission  his 
heaviest  batteries  of  wit  and  satire,  and  churned 
up  a  social  convulsion  whose  effects  remained, 
like  festering  sores,  for  a  long  time  thereafter. 
Lincoln  certainly  wielded  a  free  lance  in  those 
days.  An  exuberance  of  animal  spirits  had  to  be 
worked  off  in  some  way,  and  Lincoln  was  the 
Douglas  Jerrold  and  Sydney  Smith,  combined,  of 
the  neighborhood  about  Gentryville. 

The  satirical  element  clove  to  him  through  life, 
though  he  suppressed  it  generally  in  his  respon- 
sible years.  I  have  known  him,  however,  in  the 
privacy  of  a  judicial  circle  (but  very  rarely)  to 
impale  an  object  disagreeable  to  him  on  a  sarcas- 
tic lance  quite  as  effectually,  and  in  better  style 
than  in  his  youthful  days. 

Although  there  was  little  in  common  between 
Lincoln  and  his  father,  yet  they  were  alike  in 
possessing  prodigious  strength.  The  stories 
which  are  told  of  Abraham's  power  in  this  line 
are  doubtless  exaggerated,  but  the  fact  remains 
that  in  all  the  fights  in  which  either  he  or  his  fa- 
ther engaged,  they  prevailed  every  time,  and  that 
Abraham  was  especially  sought  for  when  feats 
of  muscle  were  in  demand. 

Abraham  did,  indeed,  venture  beyond  his  own 
bailiwick  both  in  the  moral  and  physical  world. 
Thus  he  wrote  an  elaborate  essay  on  "Our  Gov- 
ernment," when  he  was  but  a  little  turned  of  sev- 
enteen years  old,  in  which  he  betrayed  a  know- 
ledge which  could  hardly  be  deemed  indigenous 
to   Gentryville.     He   also   wrote   an   article   on 


48  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

"Temperance,"  which  was  published  in  a  weekly 
paper. 

A  village  lyceum  was  one  of  the  institutions 
of  the  little  hamlet  of  Gentryville.  The  sessions 
were  held  in  Jones's  store,  where  the  auditors 
and  disputants  sat  on  the  counter,  on  inverted 
nail  kegs,  or  lolled  upon  barrels  or  bags,  while 
the  wordy  contest  raged.  The  questions  se- 
lected for  discussion  were  not  concrete.  At  one 
time  there  would  be  a  debate  upon  the  relative 
forces  of  wind  and  water ;  at  another,  upon  the 
comparative  wrongs  of  the  Indian  and  the  negro ; 
the  relative  merits  of  the  ant  and  the  bee ;  also 
of  water  and  fire.  Then,  as  later,  Lincoln  would 
enforce  his  views  largely  by  comparison  and  by 
illustrations,  by  sallies  of  wit  and  homely  anec- 
dotes. It  was  always  understood  that  fun  was 
ahead  when  "Abe  Linkern"  took  the  floor. 

Upon  one  occasion  Abraham  walked  to  Boone- 
ville,  fifteen  miles,  to  attend  a  session  of  the  cir- 
cuit court.  One  Breckenridge,  a  lawyer  with 
merely  a  local  fame,  made  a  speech  in  a  murder 
case  which  captivated  the  youthful  aspirant ;  and 
as  he  walked  home  after  dark,  his  vivid  fancy 
wrought  like  scenes  of  forensic  glory  for  himself. 


CHAPTER  III 

LINCOLN   AS   A   LABORER 

As  time  wore  on,  and  Abraham  got  from  news- 
papers and  elsewhere  an  idea  firmly  lodged  in 
his  mind,  that  there  was  a  world  outside  of  and 
beyond  Gentryville,  he  longed  to  carry  his  wits 
and  energy  to  a  larger  market.  Accordingly,  he 
applied  to  Mr.  William  Wood,  who  was  quite 
willing  to  aid  him,  for  a  recommendation  as  a 
hand  of  some  sort  on  a  steamboat.  Wood  declined 
this  favor  on  the  ground  that  Abe  was  still  in 
his  minority  and  owed  his  services  to  his  father. 
But  an  opportunity  to  see  the  outer  world  soon 
offered  in  this  wise:  About  March  I,  1828,  when 
Abraham  was  nineteen  years  of  age,  he  was  in 
the  employment  of  James  Gentry,  whose  son 
Allen  Gentry  was  about  to  start  on  a  flatboat  trip 
to  New  Orleans  to  trade  off  a  load  of  country 
produce.  Needing  a  hand  to  aid,  the  Gentrys 
readily  induced  young  Lincoln  to  go  along  at 
eight  dollars  per  month  and  board. 

The  flatboat  of  early  days  was  simply  built  of 
sufficient  strength  to  last  one  downward  trip,  af- 
ter which  it  would  be  converted  into  fuel.  Two 
flat  pieces  of  timber  from  thirty  to  fifty  feet  in 
length,  two  to  three  feet  in  breadth,  and  a  foot 
in  thickness  were  hewed  out  of  a  poplar  log ;  one 
edge  was  level,  the  other  two  were  bevelled  at 
each  end.  These  pieces  were  called  gunwales — 
pronounced  gunnels.     Into  these   gunwales,   at 

49 


5°  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

suitable  distances,  were  mortised  cross-pieces  of 
oak,  fourteen  feet  long,  six  inches  wide,  and  three 
inches  thick,  in  addition  to  head  blocks  at  each 
end,  six  or  eight  inches  square.  A  stout  frame 
being  thus  made,  two-inch  oak  planks  were  fas- 
tened longitudinally  to  the  oak  cross-pieces  by 
means  of  wooden  pins  an  inch  square,  systemati- 
cally cut  out  from  a  tough  species  of  timber 
termed  "pin  oak,"  and  driven  by  a  heavy  maul 
through  an  auger  hole  bored  through  both  planks. 
The  bottom,  consisting  of  two-inch  oak  plank, 
was  then  fastened  on  to  these  longitudinal  planks 
and  rabbeted  into  the  gunwales,  the  same  being 
made  water-tight  by  oakum  and  pitch.  Thus  far, 
no  iron  was  used  in  the  construction,  and  no  iron 
tools  employed  beyond  a  crosscut  saw,  a  mill 
saw,  an  axe,  a  broad-axe,  an  auger,  and  a  draw- 
knife. 

This  boat  was  launched  by  simply  turning  it 
over  by  two  windlasses  and  levers  so  as  to  lie 
bottom  side  down  in  the  river.  Uprights  con- 
sisting of  4  x  4  scantling  were  then  mortised  into 
the  upper  edge  of  the  gunwales,  and  one-and- 
one-half-inch  poplar  plank  securely  fastened 
longitudinally  thereon,  and  the  seams  caulked 
with  oakum,  and  pitched.  When  produce  was  to 
be  her  cargo,  a  false  bottom  was  put  in,  as  it 
was  impossible  to  construct  such  boats  so  that 
they  would  be  entirely  water-tight.  Finally,  a 
ridge-pole  was  placed  longitudinally,  and  a  roof 
was  added.  A  cabin  was  improvised  in  one  cor- 
ner by  the  use  of  rough  boards,  and  four  huge 
oars  were  rigged,  two  on  the  sides,  one  at  the 
bow,  and  one  at  the  stern.  A  "check  post"  and 
coil  of  rope  were  then  provided,  and  the  craft 
was  in  commission. 


LINCOLN  AS  A  LABORER  51 

The  mode  of  navigating  such  an  unwieldy- 
craft  was  thus :  Being  loaded,  the  line  is  cast 
loose,  and  impelled  as  far  from  shore  as  is  prac- 
ticable by  means  of  a  setting  pole,  to  which  the 
junior  navigator  sets  his  shoulder.  When  that 
auxiliary  fails,  then  resort  is  had  to  the  side  oars, 
known  otherwise  as  "sweeps."  By  their  aid 
the  craft  is  impelled  into  the  current,  which  im- 
pels it  down  stream  at  the  rate  of  from  four 
to  six  miles  per  hour.  Skill  is  required  to  pilot 
the  boat  around  bends  in  the  river ;  as,  left  to  it- 
self, it  would  sweep  in  toward  shore,  and  possibly 
be  beached.  This  is  avoided  by  the  pilot  setting 
the  bow  towards  the  centre  of  the  stream,  and 
plying  the  side  sweeps,  so  as  to  attain  and  retain 
that  position  in  the  crooked  stream.  Neverthe- 
less, a  severe  wind  would  frequently  blow  the 
boat  towards  the  bank,  and  the  crew  be  com- 
pelled to  land,  and  in  such  case,  the  junior  navi- 
gator must  put  off  in  a  small  boat,  as  the  shore 
came  near,  with  a  rope  around  his  body  which 
he  would  quickly  secure  to  some  riparian  object, 
when  the  senior  navigator  would  take  a  turn 
around  the  check  post,  and,  by  checking  the  mo- 
mentum by  degrees,  finally  bring  the  boat  to  a 
stop  without  disaster.  While  at  shore  a  watch 
was  necessary  against  the  incursions  of  predatory 
visitors,  as  well  as  to  prevent  the  boat  from 
grounding  by  the  recession  of  the  river.  Some- 
times the  two  navigators  would  run  night  and 
day,  in  which  case  but  one  would  be  constantly 
on  watch.  At  night,  in  addition  to  keeping  the 
boat  in  the  current,  signals  must  be  given  to  pass- 
ing steamers,  which  was  done  by  the  waving  of 
a  lantern  or  a  firebrand.  The  cooking  usually 
fell  to  the  lot  of  the  junior.     Thus,  in  one  way 


52  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

and  another,  a  flatboat  trip,  under  the  manage- 
ment of  but  two  persons,  was  a  constant  suc- 
cession of  hardships  and  novelties.  Mr.  Lincoln 
has  himself  described  his  flatboat  experiences  to 
me.  In  fact,  as  I,  too,  once  made  a  flatboat 
trip,  we  compared  experiences.  On  Gentry's 
and  Lincoln's  trip  they  commenced  to  barter 
away  their  load  after  they  had  fairly  embarked 
on  the  Mississippi,  receiving  cotton,  tobacco,  and 
sugar  in  exchange  for  potatoes,  bacon,  apples, 
and  jeans.  This  sort  of  river  commerce  was  very 
common  from  the  year  1820  to  the  period  of  the 
war,  and  thrives  to  some  extent  even  now. 

Lincoln  returned  home  from  this,  his  first  trip, 
in  June,  1828,  and  fell  into  the  same  weary  round 
of  existence  which  he  had  pursued  before,  but 
with  an  evident  longing  for  pursuits  of  a  more 
ambitious  and  dignified  character  than  those  to 
which  his  existence  had  theretofore  been  con- 
secrated. 

In  two  years  more  he  would  arrive  at  the  age 
of  conventional  manhood.  Thomas  Lincoln, 
even  with  the  wages  of  Abraham  and  Sarah,  had 
not  greatly  bettered  his  condition.  The  farm 
(so-called)  had  been  purchased  entirely  on 
credit,  and  was  then  only  partially  paid  for.  The 
father  had  no  title  or  muniment  of  title  to  his 
farm ;  only  to  a  right  thereafter  to  acquire  it, 
provided  he  paid  for  it.  From  a  few  lean  acres 
some  corn  was  gleaned,  as  the  product  of  the 
least  culture  possible.  Thomas  Lincoln  had  no 
vices,  nor  yet  any  economic  virtues,  and  he  was  a 
poor  calculator,  and  being  in  the  economical 
"slough  of  despond,"  saw  no  means  by  which 
he  might  emerge  therefrom. 

The  community  of  which  he  formed  part  was 


'LINCOLN  AS  A  LABORER  S3 

somewhat  more  provident,  but  yet  very  primi- 
tive. The  most  luxuriant  growth  was  religion; 
to  attend  "meetin',"  the  settlers  would  jour- 
ney eight  or  ten  miles  on  foot,  or  horseback, 
or  however  they  could.  The  females  would  be 
attired  in  their  husbands'  overcoats,  while  the 
latter  would  protect  themselves  from  the  weather 
by  hunting  shirts  and  moccasins.  They  met  in 
schoolhouses,  private  houses,  or  in  the  woods. 
The  preachers  were  apt  to  be  more  zealous  than 
consistent,  more  polemical  than  charitable.  Not 
only  were  their  "meetin's"  employed  as  an  agency 
by  which  they  might  obtain  the  priceless  boon  of 
eternal  life,  but  they  served  the  more  worldly  and 
less  meritorious  object  of  neighborly  reunions, 
when  social  amenities  were  cultivated,  friend- 
ships cemented,  mutual  acquaintance  fostered, 
and  the  general  welfare  discussed  and  adjudi- 
cated. Instead  of  formal  sanctimony  brooding 
over  the  gathering,  joyousness  and  bonhomie 
prevailed.  They  lived  too  remote  from  each 
other  to  "run  in  and  out"  daily,  and  when  they 
did  meet,  mix,  and  mingle  on  the  Lord's  Day,  it 
was  used  as  a  medium  by  which  to  secure  attri- 
tion and  hold  converse  with  their  kind.  The 
women  wore  "calash,"  or  scoop-shovel  bonnets, 
linsey-woolsey  frocks  gathered  just  under  the 
armpits,  coarse  underwear,  and  brogans.  The 
"dress"  suit  of  the  men  was  composed  of  jeans 
of  close  and  economical  fit,  with  the  waist  high 
up  in  the  back,  buckskin  trousers,  and  coonskin 
cap.  Their  manners  were  bluff  and  hearty ;  all 
door-strings  were  hung  outside,  a  sincere  wel- 
come was  accorded  to  strangers,  locks  and  bolts 
were  unknown.  While  entire  families  were  at 
"meetin'  "  on   Sunday,  or  at  a  "hoedown,"  or 


54  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

"quiltin',"  or  "corn-schuckin',"  or  "house- 
raisin'  on  a  week-day,  an  ill-disposed  person 
might  have  ransacked  the  whole  neighborhood 
without  let  or  hindrance.  That  this  never  oc- 
curred indicates  that  this  neighborhood  was  a 
veritable  Arcadia. 

While  there  was  no  especial  spirit  of  caste, 
there  was,  nevertheless,  a  spirit  of  criticism  and 
disparagement;  and  the  social  gamut  had  both  a 
bass  and  treble  clef,  upon  which  the  merits  of 
all  were  hung.  The  conventional  standing  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  was  not  a  product  of  the  fam- 
ily tree.  His  father's  extreme  poverty  and  ina- 
bility to  extricate  himself  therefrom,  prevented 
any  social  standing,  but  Abe,  by  his  own  individ- 
ual merit,  achieved  a  place  for  himself  and  sister, 
and  likewise  for  his  foster-brother  and  sisters,  in 
the  social  life  of  the  neighborhood. 

Still  another  mental  idiosyncrasy  of  that  primi- 
tive community  was  its  proneness  to  all  varieties 
of  superstition ;  no  explanation  can  be  vouch- 
safed why  this  habit  and  peculiarity  was  more 
rife  here  than  elsewhere  under  like  conditions, 
but  so  it  was. 

They  performed  various  matters  according  to 
the  phases  of  the  moon ;  planted  esculents 
by  the  dark  of  this  luminary,  and  products  of  the 
vine  by  its  light.  They  dug  for  water  by  the 
guidance  of  the  hazel  fork  in  the  hands  of  the 
water-witch,  and  had  a  general  belief  in  witch- 
craft. They  had  faith  in  the  healing  virtues  of 
the  madstone.  They  believed  in  dreams,  signs, 
and  omens,  and  were  terrified  at  the  chirping  of 
the  "death  watch."  They  would  commence  no 
journey  or  undertaking  on  Friday.  They  were 
deceived  by  charlatans  who  plied  the  healing  art 


LINCOLN  AS  A  LABORER  55 

by  means  of  the  secret  processes  of  the  cabbala, 
and  saw  their  future  husbands,  wives,  or  desti- 
nies in  the  kaleidoscopic  groupings  of  the  tea- 
grounds  in  their  cups.  An  accident,  which  to 
the  unimaginative  mind  was  obviously  attributa- 
ble to  improvidence,  they  assigned  to  the  genius 
of  bad  luck.  A  matrimonial  match,  propitious 
in  its  consequences,  was  made  by  the  angels  in 
the  Elysium  of  light;  one  unfortunate  in  its  de- 
nouement was  churned  up  by  a  dusky  crowd  in 
the  other  place,  etc. 

The  prevalence  of  these  foolish  notions  exer- 
cised a  great  influence  on  the  plastic  and  suscepti- 
ble mind  of  our  hero,  in  the  formative  stage  of 
his  career.  His  vigor  of  mind  and  independence 
of  thought  in  all  other  phases  and  manifestations 
could  not  triumph  over  these  mental  weaknesses. 
When  his  son  Robert  was  bitten  by  a  dog  which 
it  was  feared  was  rabid,  he  journeyed  with  him, 
at  great  discomfort,  to  Terre  Haute,  to  have  a 
madstone  which  was  there  applied  to  the  wound. 
While  in  the  White  House,  he  was  known  to  steal 
out  furtively  and  attend  spiritualistic  seances, 
and  consult  mediums  as  to  his  lines  of  duty,  and 
to  the  prognostications  of  the  future.  He  be- 
lieved in  dreams,  as  Napoleon  did ;  he  had  faith 
in  destiny.  His  whole  manhood's  life  was  one 
scene  of  misery  because  it  was  largely  filled  with 
dismal  and  shadowy  forebodings. 

Among  these  people,  he  grew  to  maturity  of 
manhood,  and  while  there  imbibed  and  matured 
an  ambition  which  brought  forth  fruit  after  many 
days.  He  lived  there  from  the  fall  of  1816,  when 
he  was  seven  and  a  half  years  old,  until  the  spring 
of  1830,  when  he  was  of  age — a  physical,  politi- 
cal, and  conventional  man.     Almost  naked,  he 


56  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

came  into  that  region.  The  value  and  price  of 
property,  and  population  increased  an  hundred- 
fold during  his  stay  there,  and  although  the 
house  of  "Lincoln"  was  augmented  in  substantial 
wealth  by  the  generous  contributions  of  Sallie 
Bush  Lincoln,  yet  this  family  left  that  region, 
after  over  thirteen  years'  sojourn,  as  poor  as  it 
came. 

Abraham's  sister  had  married  Aaron  Grigsby 
at  the  age  of  eighteen,  and  had  died,  in  childbed, 
within  a  year  thereafter.     It  was  a  sad  blow_  to 
her   brother — he    reflected    upon   the   preceding 
burial.      He  had  everything  in  common  with  his 
mother  and  sister,  but  little  with  his  father,  and 
as  he  heard  the  clods  reverberate  dully  from  the 
grave  which  contained  the  early  companion  of 
his    few    joys    and    many    sorrows,  the    pent-up 
grief  of  his  stricken  soul  found  vent  in  convulsive 
sobs  which  brought  tears  to  the  little  sympathetic 
assembly.      There  were  but  the  least  few  cords 
that  bound  Abraham  Lincoln  to  existence :  one  of 
them  snapped  at  the  grave  of  Nancy  Hanks  Lin- 
coln ;  and  yet  another  at  the  new-made  grave  in 
the  weird  forest.      What  have  I  to  live  for?  he 
repeated  to  himself  over  and  over.      Even  his 
foster-sisters,  who  had  been  company  and  com- 
panions to  him,  were  hardly  so  longer,  for  Ma- 
tilda, the  eldest,  had  married  his  second-cousin, 
Dennis  Hanks,  and  Sarah,  the  younger,  had  mar- 
ried another  second-cousin,  Levi  Hall;  and  they 
each  were  rearing  children.     John  D.  Johnston, 
his  foster-brother,  alone  remained,  and  was  only 
apparently  a  companion  to  Abraham.      In  their 
common    and    mutual    adolescence,    they    were 
closely  allied  in  all  things,  but  as  the  mind  of  one 
delved  by  self-introspection  into  the  strata  of  the 


LINCOLN  AS  A  LABORER  57 

moral  world,  the  vacant  mind  of  the  other  re- 
mained stranded  on  the  bleak  shores  of  medioc- 
rity, and  their  intimacy  was  but  of  the  most  su- 
perficial character. 

Nancy  Hanks  Lincoln,  as  has  been  stated,  had 
an  uncle  who  was  a  carpenter  in  Elizabethtown, 
and  with  whom  Thomas  Lincoln  "larned"  his 
trade  of  carpenter.  He  had  a  son  John,  as  in- 
flexibly honest  and  reliable  as  Abraham  Lincoln 
himself.  John  had  come  to  the  Lincolns'  set- 
tlement in  Indiana,  and  lived  in  and  about  Gen- 
tryville  for  about  two  years,  but  during  the  fall 
of  1828  he  had  drifted  into  Macon  County,  Illi- 
nois, and  was  comfortably  settled  there.  Thomas 
Lincoln,  ever  ready  to  change  his  uniformly  indi- 
gent condition,  inquired  of  John  Hanks  about 
the  Illinois  country,  whether  it  offered  sufficiently 
promising  advantages  to  a  poor  immigrant  such 
as  himself.  To  these  inquiries,  Uncle  John  (as 
I  always  called  him)  returned  very  candid,  and, 
on  the  whole  satisfactory  replies,  with  the  re- 
sult that,  during  the  winter  of  1829-30,  it  was 
determined  in  the  family  councils  of  the  Lincolns 
to  move  to  Macon  County,  Illinois,  upon  the  first 
budding  of  spring. 

The  business  arrangements  were  easily  and 
quickly  despatched.  Gentry,  who  substantially 
had  a  title  to  the  farm  in  a  mortgage  thereon, 
took  over  the  equity.  Turnham  purchased  the 
few  hogs,  and  bought  the  small  remnant  of  corn 
for  ten  cents  a  bushel.  When  the  middle  of 
February  came,  the  season  was  deemed  suffi- 
ciently advanced  for  the  impatient  family  to  start. 
There  were  really  three  families,  to  wit :  Thomas 
Lincoln,  his  wife,  Abraham,  and  John  D.  John- 
ston, his  foster-brother ;  Levi  and  Sarah  Johnston 


58  'LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

Hall,  and  their  son;  and  Dennis   and  Matilda 
Johnston  Hanks,  and  their  four  children;  thir- 
teen persons  in  all.     The  day  of  departure  ap- 
proached.   On  the  day  before  the  start  was  to  be 
made,  Abraham,  Dennis,  and  John  visited  the  lit- 
tle hamlet  of  Gentryville  and  bade  adieu  to  the 
Gentry s  senior  and  junior,  John   Baldwin,  the 
blacksmith,  who  was  one  of  Lincoln's  staunchest 
and  most  reliable  friends,  Jones,  Lincoln's  mer- 
chant friend,  and  the  various  neighbors  who  were 
casually  there ;  they  then  visited  and  bade  good- 
bye to  Dan  Turnham,  the  constable,  at  whose 
house  Abraham  commenced  his  studies  in  law 
by  reading  the  "Revised  Statutes  of  Indiana,"  then 
took  affectionate  leave  of  "Uncle"  Wood,  Ste- 
phen McDaniels,  John  Duthan,  Mrs.  Crawford, 
the  Grigsbys   (the  entente  cordiale  having  been 
reestablished  between  them),  John  Romine,  and 
the   rest.      And   as  the   awkward   and   uncouth 
youth,   all   unconscious   of  the   immortal  career 
for  which  he  was  destined,  lay  down  for  the  last 
time  to  sleep  in  the  humble  cabin  which  had  shel- 
tered him  for  thirteen  years,  we  can  well  imagine 
that  his  sensibilities  were  profoundly  stirred,  and 
that  his  feelings  found  relief  in  tears. 

The  animating  principle  of  Thomas  Lincoln's 
migration  is  not  difficult  to  divine :  The  part  of 
Kentucky  where  manhood  found  him  was  sterile 
at  best.  The  free  laborer  had  little  chance  for 
social  and  material  advancement;  a  niggerless 
white  was  regarded  as  a  social  pariah.  Thomas 
Lincoln  inherited  rigid  notions  of  humanity  from 
a  Quaker  ancestry  which  recognized  slavery  as 
a  crime ;  so  he  did  what  other  conscientious  men 
were  doing  in  similar  circumstances:  he  left  a 
State  where  caste  was  securely  enthroned  for  a 


LINCOLN  AS  A  LABORER  59 

State  where  social,  as  well  as  political,  equality- 
prevailed.  Migration  is  an  American  institution. 
Instances  are  not  rare  of  men  who  have  actually 
lived  in  a  dozen  different  States;  and  California, 
Oregon,  and  Washington  are  largely  peopled  by 
men  who  commenced  their  tours  of  migration  in 
the  Atlantic  States,  and  by  slow  approaches  ulti- 
mately reached  the  ultimate  limits  of  Western 
civilization.  Andrew  Jackson,  William  Henry 
Harrison,  James  K.  Polk,  Zachary  Taylor,  An- 
drew Johnson,  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  and  Benjamin 
Harrison  were  emigrants. 

Thomas  Lincoln  likewise  had  abundant  cause 
to  leave  Indiana.  Milk-sickness  is  given  as  the 
cause  by  Dennis  Hanks.  Nancy  Hanks  Lin- 
coln, and  her  uncle  and  aunt,  had  all  died  of  it 
within  two  months  of  each  other,  and  as  Dennis 
naively  says :  "All  of  my  relatives  died  of  that 
disease  on  Little  Pigeon  Creek,  Spencer  County. 
...  I  was  determined  to  leave  and  hunt  a 
country  where  milk-sick  was  not ;  this  is  the  rea- 
son for  leaving  Indiana." 

Activity,  bustle,  and  excitement  reigned  in  and 
about  the  Lincoln  cabin,  near  Gentryville,  on 
the  morning  of  February  15,  1830.  An  early 
breakfast  had  been  hastily  despatched  by  the 
light  of  some  blazing  fagots,  by  thirteen  people, 
and  each  of  them  was  engaged  in  guiding  events 
toward  an  orderly  and  symmetrical  exodus  from 
the  scene  of  so  many  melancholy  experiences. 

The  two  "gals"  (as  they  were  called)  were 
tying  up  rough  bedclothes,  packing  dishes,  skil- 
lets, pots  and  pans,  and  "toting"  bundles  to  an 
extremely  shabby  and  primitive  vehicle,  in  which 
the  patriarch  of  the  household  was  awkwardly 
storing  them  away.     John  D.  Johnston,  Dennis 


60  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

Hanks,  and  Abraham  Lincoln  were  corralling  a 
few  yearling  cattle,  and  imposing  the  yoke  upon 
eight  of  the  least  unpromising.  Levi  Hall  was 
casting  a  wary  eye  at  the  storing  of  the  cargo, 
tightening  a  wedge  here,  tying  a  bark  knot  there, 
or  driving  a  peg  yonder,  and  venturing  sundry 
bits  of  advice,  having  in  view  the  proper  disposi- 
tion of  the  crude  freight  so  as  not  to  endanger  the 
safety  of  the  rude  craft.  The  mother  of  the 
tribe  was  viewing  the  animated  scene  with  an 
anxious  eye  and  directing  matters  with  responsi- 
ble consideration,  issuing  directions  and  uttering 
sundry  warnings  concerning  the  task  then  being 
wrought  out.  While  the  children,  radiant  with 
happiness  at  the  novelty  and  commotion,  were 
dancing  about  in  everybody's  way. 

Finally  the  four  yoke  of  frisky,  half-broken 
steers,  after  much  coercion  on  the  part  of  four 
men,  were  attached  to  the  wagon ;  the  last  rude 
article  was  loaded  on,  stuck  in,  or  tied  under  the 
wagon ;  the  good  mother,  with  much  protesting, 
was  forced  to  mount  on  the  load,  and  the  little 
ones  were  stored  away  somewhere  in  the  inter- 
stices. The  few  parting  words  were  said  to  the 
few  friends  who  stood  tearfully  and  dejectedly 
around,  and  the  leader  propounded  the  final  in- 
terrogation of,  "All  ready?"  which  being  an- 
swered by  half  a  dozen  or  more  in  the  affirmative, 
the  leader  flourished  his  ox-whip  vigorously,  at 
the  same  time  ejaculating,  "Come,  Buck!  You, 
Bright!  Go  'lang,  Jim!"  The  team  straight- 
ened out,  the  chains  were  tightly  drawn,  a  creak- 
ing sound  issued  from  four  rebellious  axles,  a 
spasmodic  activity  was  imparted  to  the  load,  the 
old  lady  clutched  uneasily  at  some  means  to 
steady  herself,  the  mercurial  and  excited  young- 


LINCOLN  AS  A  LABORER  61 

sters  were  warned  to  hang  on,  the  load  pitched 
forward,  steadied,  careened  to  one  side,  righted 
up,  and  jolted  along  to  the  dolorous  creakings 
of  a  home-made  vehicle.  And  thus  the  Tribe 
of  Lincoln  set  out  on  its  journey  for  the  Prom- 
ised Land,  and  thus  also  Abraham  Lincoln,  hav- 
ing been  three  days  a  conventional  man,  com- 
menced to  bear  the  burden  of  responsible  life  as 
an  ox  driver. 

Can  the  imagination  of  these  days  of  mechani- 
cal marvels  reconstruct  in  fancy  the  rude  vehi- 
cle which  carried  the  fortunes  of  Abraham  Lin- 
coln from  Gentryville,  Ind.,  to  Decatur,  111.? 
Will  the  occupant  of  the  modern  railway  coach 
or  of  an  automobile  credit  the  assertion  that  not 
a  particle  of  iron  or  other  metal  entered  into  its 
composition  except  the  narrow  iron  bands  which 
bound  the  periphery  of  the  wheels;  that  those 
wheels  were  solid  blocks  of  wood  made  approxi- 
mately circular  by  the  broad-axe  and  drawknife, 
and  that  in  lieu  of  bolts,  straps,  or  other  fasten- 
ings, hickory  withes  were  used  ?  So  rude  a  vehi- 
cle does  not  exist  to-day  in  any  part  of  the  world, 
not  even  in  Tasmania  or  Zululand.  The  cargo 
consisted  of  a  bureau,  a  chest  of  drawers,  a  table, 
two  chairs  bottomed  with  rawhide,  some  bundles 
of  bedding,  some  bundles  of  clothing,  a  carpen- 
ter's chest  of  tools,  and  some  very  rude  cooking 
utensils.  The  most  unpropitious  season  of  the 
year  seems  to  have  been  selected  for  such  a  jour- 
ney, inasmuch  as  the  road  froze  at  night  and 
thawed  by  day,  causing  the  heavy  wagon  to  be 
mired  daily. 

So,  too,  the  hardships  of  the  journey  were 
greatly  increased  by  the  not  infrequent  crossing 
of  creeks  upon  whose  surface  a  thin  film  of  ice 


6*  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

would  generally  be  formed,  and  which  all  parties 
would  be  compelled  to  ford.  At  length  the  emi- 
grants crossed  the  Illinois  line,  and  struck  a  north 
and  south  trail  through  the  prairie,  lying  near 
to,  if  not,  indeed,  some  of  the  way  upon,  the  loca- 
tion of  the  main  line  of  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
way. This  ultimately  brought  them  to  the  then 
inconsiderable  village  of  Decatur,  through  whose 
vacant  streets  they  slowly  defiled,  an  object  of 
interest  to  the  few  stragglers  whom  they  encoun- 
tered, as  well  as  to  the  inhabitants  who,  from  the 
windows  of  comfortable  rooms,  gazed  at  the  un- 
couth procession,  little  aware  that  the  tall  young 
ox  driver  who  led  it  was  destined  to  shed  upon 
their  community  its  most  resplendent  lustre — that 
within  that  little  village  he  was  to  be  enthusiasti- 
cally nominated  by  delegates  from  the  State 
of  Illinois  as  the  candidate  for  the  most  exalted 
office  on  earth,  and  so  cause  the  name  of  their 
then  inconsequential  village  to  be  handed  down 
in  imperishable  fame. 

Arrived  in  front  of  the  courthouse,  the  wagon 
halted,  and  the  various  members  of  the  little  rag- 
ged and  muddy  coterie  drew  together  in  a  cir- 
cle, while  the  conventional  head  of  the  party  went 
timidly  into  the  courthouse  and  ventured  to  in- 
quire of  a  boy  who  was  recording  deeds  if  he 
could  inform  him  which  road  "mout"  lead  to 
John  Hanks's  place  on  the  Sangamo.  In  point 
of  fact,  Hanks  lived  but  four  miles  northwest  of 
Decatur,  and  thither  the  humble  procession 
wended  its  way,  arriving  there  at  nightfall,  to 
receive  the  heartiest  of  welcomes  from  their  kins- 
man. Faithful  old  John  Hanks !  He  had  not, 
could  not  have,  an  enemy  on  earth ;  he  was  home- 
spun, matter-of-fact,  and  dull  to  a  superlative 


LINCOLN  AS  A  LABORER  63 

degree,  but  he  was  the  very  soul  of  generosity, 
truth,  and  probity.  He  made  no  pretensions  to 
anything  beyond  mauling  rails,  plowing,  husk- 
ing corn,  and  other  manual  labors.  By  carrying 
into  the  State  Republican  convention  at  Decatur, 
May  10,  i860,  rails  marked  "Split  by  Abraham 
Lincoln,"  he  fixed  the  epithet  of  "rail-splitter" 
upon  him,  a  homely  title  that  struck  the  popular 
fancy,  and  attracted  ten  voters  to  Lincoln  for 
every  one  it  repelled.  And  when  Lincoln  came 
into  his  glory,  John  Hanks  displayed  a  sincerity 
of  nature  that  only  his  ignorance  saved  from 
being  presumption,  by  applying  to  the  President 
for  an  office. 

Procuring  a  new  suit  of  blue  jeans,  he  went 
to  Washington  and  called  on  his  youthful  com- 
panion, his  putative  partner  in  the  rail-splitting 
business  (the  prosaic  fact  is,  Uncle  John  split 
all  the  rails,  while  Abe  cut  the  logs  into  rail 
lengths).  "I'll  tell  ye,  Abe,  what  I  come  for," 
he  bluntly  said.  "I  want  to  be  a  Injun  agent, 
and  Dick  Ogleby  said  as  how  you  could  give  it 
to  me  sure."  Lincoln  was  nonplussed.  Uncle 
John  was  rigidly  honest,  but  had  no  ability  be- 
yond the  doing  of  farm  drudgery.  How  would 
it  look  for  "honest  old  Abe"  to  bestow  an  office 
which  required  business  training  on  a  rustic  sim- 
pleton, simply  because  he  was  a  friend  and  kins- 
man? Besides,  John  Hanks  could  neither  read 
nor  write,  but  then  Uncle  John  had  proposed  his 
son,  who  could  do  both,  for  his  clerk.  "How  will 
it  do?"  asked  the  President  of  me,  ruminatingly. 
"Just  the  thing,"  I  answered.  "An  honest  man 
as  an  Indian  agent  will  be  a  good  send-off  for 
you."  "But  the  trouble  is  his  ignorance." 
"Never  mind;  his  honesty  is  better  than  knowl- 


H  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

edge,"  I  said.  Other  advisers  concurred  in  my 
opinion.  However,  at  the  cost  of  a  bitter  strug- 
gle, the  President  refused  Uncle  John's  request, 
as  he  also  did  that  of  Dennis  Hanks,  who  came 
on  to  Washington  later  and  asked  that  the  Presi- 
dent's foster-sister,  his  wife,  might  be  appointed 
postmistress  of  Charleston,  111.  Would  Abraham 
Lincoln  have  believed  in  the  possibility  of  such  a 
thing  on  the  night  of  March  I,  1830,  thirty-one 
years  before,  when  he  and  Dennis  and  Matilda 
gathered  about  the  humble  board  of  old  John  in 
the  Macon  wilderness,  and  enjoyed  the  first 
square  meal  under  a  roof  for  two  weeks? 

Not  until  the  wee  sma'  hours  did  Tom  and 
Abe  and  John  and  Dennis  and  Levi  and  their 
good  host  lie  down  to  rest ;  for  the  newcomers 
were  homeless,  and  crops  must  be  speedily 
planted ;  and  a  programme  of  inspection  and  se- 
lection had  to  be  made  out  for  the  succeeding 
day. 

Six  miles  further  down  the  stream,  John 
Hanks  had  selected  a  place  for  the  settlement  of 
his  kinfolks,  and  had  cut  logs  sufficient  for  a 
cabin.  Thither  all  the  men  went  the  next  morn- 
ing; a  site  was  selected  for  a  field  and  the  cabin, 
and  the  united  energies  of  all  were  bent  toward 
planting  homes  in  the  forest  for  the  three  fami- 
lies. Fifteen  acres  of  river  bottom  were  cleared 
for  the  use  of  Thomas  Lincoln's  family  proper; 
it  then  consisting  theoretically  of  his  wife,  Abra- 
ham, and  John  D.  Johnston. 

Abraham  was  now  a  legal  man,  having  no 
claim  for  parental  aid,  and  charged  with  all  the 
responsibilities  of  budding  and  ambitious  man- 
hood. He  was  in  a  new  State  surrounded  by  the 
most  primitive  society  of  the  frontier — a  mere  ad- 


LINCOLN  AS  A  LABORER  65 

venturer,  with  nothing  on  earth  but  his  right 
arm  and  uneducated  brain  as  a  capital  with  which 
to  commence  the  journey  of  life.  He  was  legally, 
but  not  morally,  independent.  His  father  had  no 
financial  ability,  and,  to  put  it  plainly,  was  very 
liable  to  need  the  aid  of  his  only  son  in  the  fu- 
ture as  in  the  past.  Faithful  to  all  moral  obliga- 
tions then  as  thereafter,  Abraham  felt  resting 
upon  his  shoulders,  contingently,  the  burden 
of  his  father's  and  step-mother's  support;  and, 
all  things  considered,  it  would  not  be  easy 
to  find  a  more  unenviable  condition  of  American 
manhood  than  that  which  environed  Abraham 
Lincoln  when  he  cast  off  from  the  shores  of  de- 
pendent youth,  and  embarked  on  the  uncertain 
voyage  of  independent  and  responsible  life. 

His  home  with  his  father  thenceforth  was  but 
nominal.  He  really  lived  with  families  for  whom 
he  worked  as  a  hired  laborer.  All  that  is  known 
of  his  career  during  the  first  year  in  Illinois  is 
that  he  worked  at  odd  jobs  when  he  could,  in 
the  immediate  neighborhood.  He  probably  did 
not  visit  Decatur  once  during  all  that  time.  His 
residence  in  Macon  County  was  apparently  a 
simple  bridging  over  from  the  irresponsible  and 
reckless  career  of  a  fanciful  youth  of  uncertain 
instincts,  to  the  incipient  career  of  responsible 
life.  His  propensity  to  air  his  eloquence  was 
not,  however,  in  abeyance  even  then;  for  we 
learn  that  a  candidate  for  the  Legislature,  by  the 
convenient  and  conventional  name  of  "Posey" 
(that  name  standing  as  the  John  Doe  of  Li'n- 
colnian  biography),  made  a  speech  in  the  Hanks 
neighborhood  on  the  then  current  political  issue 
of  the  navigation  of  the  Sangamo  River. 
"Posey"  seems  to  have  been  opposed  to  its  im- 


66  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

provement  for  navigation,  and  Lincoln  in  favor 
of  it.  Uncle  John  evidently  knew  his  kinsman's 
views  on  the  subject,  for  he  at  once  took  issue 
with  "Posey,"  and  avowed  that  "Abe"  could  beat 
it.  So  John  brought  out  a  box,  which  Abe 
mounted,  and  made  his  oratorical  bow  to  the  sov- 
ereigns of  his  adopted  State  in  the  advocacy  of 
a  subject  which  never  had  anything  but  a  fictiti- 
tious  political  standing,  and  which  was  soon  over- 
shadowed by  the  advent  of  the  railway  question, 
first  as  a  political  factor,  and  ultimately  as  a  po- 
tential fact.  It  appears  from  Uncle  John's  state- 
ment that  Abe  beat  "Posey"  "to  death"  in  the 
discussion,  and  that  his  discomfited  antagonist, 
asking  him  where  he  had  learned  so  much,  en- 
couraged him  to  assume  the  role  of  politician. 

It  will  be  recollected  that  Henry  Clay,  in  ad- 
dressing a  class  of  students  once,  informed  them 
that  he  had  largely  improved  himself  in  the  art 
of  oratory  by  addressing  imaginary  audiences, 
represented  by  hencoops,  stumps,  trees,  etc.  The 
future  hero  of  the  "joint  debate"  underwent  a 
similar  self-imposed  discipline,  and  alike  in 
Spencer  County,  Indiana,  and  Macon  County, 
Illinois,  he  was  wont  to  convert  the  "deep,  tan- 
gled wildwood"  into  an  imaginary  audience,  and 
thus  discipline  his  genius  in  the  ways  and  graces 
of  the  effective  orator. 

It  will  be  recollected  that  an  especial  reason  why 
Thomas  Lincoln  removed  from  Indiana  to  Illinois 
was,  as  Dennis  Hanks  puts  it,  to  get  "where  milk- 
sick  was  not."  The  new  settlers  did,  indeed,  escape 
the  "milk  sickness,"  but  they  encountered  a  dis- 
ease which  was  nearly  as  bad.  The  fall  of  1830 
was  an  unusually  severe  season  for  chills  and 
fever,  and  Thomas  and  his  family  were  so  sorely 


LINCOLN  AS  A  LABORER  67 

afflicted  with  it  as  to  become  thoroughly  discour- 
aged. Their  little  sorry  cabin  presented  a  mel- 
ancholy sight :  the  father  and  mother  both  shak- 
ing at  once,  and  the  married  daughter,  who  came 
to  minister  to  their  sufferings,  not  much  better 
off.  So  terribly  did  they  suffer  that  the  father 
vowed  a  vow  that  as  soon  as  he  got  able  to  travel 
he  would  "git  out  o'  tharf 

The  winter  season  came  on  and  was  one  of 
"ethereal  mildness"  up  to  Christmas,  when  a  ter- 
rible and  persistent  snowstorm  set  in,  and  lasted 
without  intermission  for  forty-eight  hours,  leav- 
ing between  three  and  four  feet  on  the  ground 
on  the  level,  a  depth  never  attained  before  nor 
since,  and  remaining  so  for  over  two  months. 
Its  effect  upon  the  rural  districts  was  disas- 
trous :  the  wheat  crops  were  totally  ruined ;  cat- 
tle, hogs,  and  even  horses  perished;  all  sorts  of 
provisions  gave  out.  There  was  no  means  of 
getting  help  from  abroad.  In  some  places  teams 
would  bear  up  on  the  crust  of  the  snow ;  in  oth- 
ers, there  was  no  road  communication  at  all,  and 
athletic  men  would  be  compelled  to  journey  on 
foot  to  neighbors  for  food.  Many  perished  on 
the  prairie  from  cold ;  some  even  perished  in 
their  houses  from  hunger.  Selfishness  was  ex- 
orcised by  the  common  calamity ;  charity  was  uni- 
versal ;  the  whole  interior  districts  of  the  State 
were  made  akin  by  that  one  touch  of  nature,  the 
"big  snow." 

That  awful  event  was  made  a  chronological 
era  ever  afterwards.  Many  a  fireside  gathering 
has,  in  the  past  generation  of  men,  been  thrilled 
by  a  recounting  of  the  incidents  of  that  drear  and 
awful  "winter  of  the  deep  snow." 

This   "Hanks"   neighborhood   was   unusually 


68  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

uninteresting;  much  more  so  than  that  whicH 
the  emigrants  had  left  behind  in  Indiana,  and 
the  twin  calamities  of  "chills  and  fever"  and  the 
"deep  snow,"  coming  in  succession,  Thomas  Lin- 
coln emigrated  in  the  succeeding  spring  to 
"Goose  Nest"  Prairie,  in  the  southern  part  of 
Coles  County,  about  one  hundred  miles  south- 
east of  Decatur.  Here  he  lived  until  his  death 
in  1851. 

Flowing  in  a  sinuous  course,  generally  south- 
westwardly,  through  Champaign,  Piatt,  Macon, 
and  between  Christian  and  Sangamon  counties, 
for  a  hundred  miles,  then  turning  abruptly  to 
the  northwest  for  about  fifty  miles,  then  pursu- 
ing a  course  due  west  until  it  finally  reaches,  and 
mingles  its  turbid  current  with  that  of  the  Illi- 
nois, is  a  river  now  known  improperly  as  the 
"Sangamon."  Its  correct  name,  given  by  the 
Indians,  is  "Sangamo" — pronounced  "Sanga- 
maiv" — and  it  was  so  called  in  Lincoln's  early 
manhood.  The  Hanks  neighborhood  is  on  the 
right  bank  of  this  river,  at  a  point  near  to  where 
its  course  is  changed  from  a  southwesterly  to  a 
northwesterly  one.  It  was  in  the  river  bot- 
toms of  this  stream,  in  this  neighborhood, 
that  Lincoln  passed  the  first  year  of  his  man- 
hood. 

In  February,  1831,  one  Denton  Offutt,  a  bibu- 
lous, "devil-may-care"  sort  of  person,  a  combi- 
nation of  speculator  and  mountebank,  drifted 
into  this  neighborhood,  and  casually  met  John 
Hanks,  who  had  somehow  achieved  a  local  fame 
as  a  flatboatman.  Offutt  proposed  to  Hanks  to 
transport  a  flatboat  load  of  country  produce  to 
New  Orleans.  Hanks  was  not  unwilling  to  go, 
but  deferred  a  definite  answer  till  he  could  con- 


LINCOLN  AS  A  LABORER  69 

suit  Lincoln  and  John  D.  Johnston,  and  ascer- 
tain if  they  could  be  induced  to  accompany 
him. 

Now  I  have  heretofore  stated  that  one  of  Lin- 
coln's mental  traits  of  character  was  a  propensity 
for  a  diversion  of  employment,  a  hopping  about 
from  one  thing  to  another,  rather  than  consecu- 
tive, steady,  and  monotonous  labor.  He  was, 
moreover,  not  disinclined  to  adventure ;  to  seeing 
the  world ;  to  achieving  knowledge  in  the  school 
of  experience  and  variety;  and  thus  it  was  that 
he  entered  promptly  into  a  business  engagement 
with  Offutt  by  the  terms  of  which  Offutt  was 
to  provide  a  boat  and  cargo  at  the  confluence 
of  Sugar  Creek  and  the  south  fork  with  the  main 
Sangamo,  a  few  miles  east  of  the  then  obscure 
and  ill-built  village  of  Springfield.  This  boat 
Lincoln,  John  Hanks,  and  John  D.  Johnston  were 
to  navigate  to  New  Orleans.  The  three  argo- 
nauts met  promptly  at  the  appointed  rendezvous, 
Lincoln  and  Hanks  sailing  down  in  a  frail  canoe, 
and  their  companion  preferring  the  safer  method 
of  pedal  locomotion.  But  they  found  neither 
boat  nor  cargo  awaiting  them.  In  point  of  fact, 
all  that  the  energetic  but  erratic  contractor  had 
done  was  to  engage  to  purchase  sundry  supplies 
of  the  few  cross-road  merchants.  Thus  the  en- 
terprise was,  for  the  time  being,  suspended. 
However,  the  trio  of  prospective  navigators, 
nothing  daunted,  but  without  a  solitary  cent, 
change  of  clothing,  or  anything  corporeal  ex- 
cept their  bodies  and  the  rude  clothing  which 
they  wore,  started  on  foot  for  Springfield,  where 
they  supposed  some  tidings  of  their  employer 
might  be  obtained. 

As  I  am  not  unfamiliar  with  the  styles  and 


7°  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

modes  of  life  of  our  frontier  people  in  primitive 
days  and  conditions,  I  can  see  in  my  mind's  eye 
this  loutish  crowd  as  they  entered  into  the  pre- 
cincts of  this  uninviting  village,  then  a  sparsely 
settled  community  of  five  hundred  people,  poorly 
built,  and  the  streets  almost  totally  impassable 
with  deep,  "sticky"  mud. 

It  is  not  difficult  for  me  to  reproduce  in  fancy 
the  supercilious  stare  which  greeted  these  rag- 
ged searchers  after  light  and  knowledge,  as  they 
prosecuted  their  inquiries  at  the  few  stores  for 
the  whereabouts  of  "Denton  Offutt."  That  their 
mission  was  supposed  by  those  who  took  any 
interest  in  the  matter  to  be  a  barren  one  was  un- 
doubted, for  Offutt  was  generally  known  to  be  an 
irresponsible  projector.  Had  not  our  adventu- 
rers followed  the  matter  up,  it  is  probable  Denton 
would  have  done  nothing  further  about  it,  but 
would  have  turned  his  attention  to  some  other 
wild  scheme.  For  this  venture  was  not  in  the 
line  of  legitimate  commerce  or  adventure ;  the 
Sangamo  was  not  rated  as  a  navigable  stream ; 
there  was  at  least  one  mill-dam,  and  the  river's 
availability  for  commerce  and  as  a  highway  was 
then  advocated,  so  far  as  was  known,  by  only 
two  individuals  in  the  whole  world,  viz. :  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  in  theory,  and  Denton  Offutt  in 
practice. 

It  was  at  the  Buckhorn  Tavern,  the  leading 
place  of  its  kind  in  town,  that  Offutt  was  finally 
found.  Although  it  was  in  the  middle  of  the 
day,  he  was  found  lying  in  a  corner  fast  asleep, 
and  most  decidedly  drunk. 

The  presence  of  his  boat's  crew  and  the  neces- 
sities of  the  occasion  soon  roused  and  stimulated 
the  energies  of  the  enterprising  but  erratic  pro- 


LINCOLN  AS  A  LABORER  7* 

jector,  and  he  gave  carte  blanche  to  his  three  em- 
ployees to  invade  the  government  land  and  get 
out  gunwales,  and  to  repair  to  a  rude  mill  man- 
aged by  one  Kirkpatrick  (of  whom  more  anon), 
in  order  to  obtain  the  necessary  lumber  at  Off  utt's 
expense  to  construct  the  boat.  The  three  ac- 
cordingly improvised  a  camp  and  adopted  an 
organization  to  consummate  the  project,  in  which 
to  Lincoln  was  assigned  the  role  of  "chief  cook 
and  bottle-washer."  In  thirty  days  hence  the  flat- 
boat  was  completed,  and  rode  proudly  on  the 
bosom  of  the  river,  moored  to  the  mud  banks  of 
the  Sangamo — the  pioneer  of  all  water  craft  in 
that  region. 

I  shall  hereafter  have  occasion  to  note  that 
Abraham  Lincoln  was  always  and  ever  ready  to 
meet  and  master  any  of  the  real  exigencies  which 
lay  in  his  pathway,  and  this  incident  furnished 
the  first  occasion  for  the  exercise  of  his  faculties 
in  that  line.  He  was  the  controlling  spirit  of  the 
entire  affair.  It  is  even  more  than  probable  that 
Lincoln's  advocacy  of  the  practicability  of  navi- 
gating the  Sangamo  first  induced  Offutt  to  risk 
the  venture,  and  it  is  also  reasonably  clear  that  his 
enthusiasm  and  spirit  brought  out  of  chaos  and 
made  practicable  the  carrying  out  of  the  enter- 
prise. While  engaged  in  building  the  boat  a  peri- 
patetic prestidigitator  came  along,  and  gave  an 
entertainment  in  a  garret.  This  our  boat-build- 
ers attended,  and  it  was  Lincoln's  hat  that  the 
magician  used  in  the  manner  of  his  craft  to  cook 
eggs  in.  This  was  the  first  public  entertainment 
which  we  have  any  record  that  Lincoln  attended. 
Throughout  his  subsequent  career  he  was  very 
fond  of  such  amusements.  That  he  was  shot 
while  gazing  on  a  mimic  scene  has  troubled  many 


72  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

good  folk  who  disapprove  of  theatres,  and  they 
have  sought  various  excuses  for  his  presence  at 
the  fatal  play,  such  as  his  desire  to  honor  General 
Grant,  who  was  expected  there,  etc.  The  fact  is, 
Lincoln  had  from  the  first  a  keen  interest  in  any 
public  performance,  and  in  time  developed  a  crit- 
ical appreciation  of  the  highest  form  of  entertain- 
ment, the  drama. 

Offutt's  adhesion  to  the  flowing  bowl  retarded 
the  enterprise,  but  during  his  spasms  of  sobriety, 
the  load  was  engaged,  the  boat  was  loaded,  the 
parting  signal  was  given,  and  this  argosy  under 
command  of  Lincoln  was,  in  the  middle  of  April, 
set  on  the  raging  tide.  At  a  distance  of  thirty- 
seven  miles  as  the  river  runs,  on  the  19th  day  of 
April,  a  mill-dam  was  encountered,  on  which  the 
rude  craft,  after  passing  one-third  of  its  length, 
stuck  fast. 

In  the  exigency  thus  presented,  Lincoln  was 
the  directing  and  master  mind.  The  forward  end 
of  the  boat  was  tilted  up,  and  the  rear  end  sub- 
merged ;  a  smaller  boat  was  procured,  and  part  of 
the  load  transferred.  Lincoln  then  bored  a  hole 
in  that  part  of  the  bottom  of  the  boat  which  pro- 
jected over  the  dam,  and  then  rolled  some  heavy 
pork  barrels  forward,  which  gave  a  pitch  to  the 
boat  and  let  the  water  run  out,  after  which  the 
hole  was  stopped  up,  and,  by  a  skilful  use  of 
poles,  the  vessel  was  got  over,  reloaded,  and  sent 
forward  on  its  course. 

When  the  craft  reached  Beardstown,  its  odd 
appearance  and  wild-looking  crew  excited  the 
derision  of  the  inhabitants,  who  committed  the 
undignified  and  inexcusable  act  of  openly  ridi- 
culing them  as  they  passed.  The  venture 
reached  New  Orleans  at  last,  probably  as  rude 


LINCOLN  AS  A  LABORER  73 

a  craft  with  as  awkward  a  crew  as  ever  floated 
out  of  the  wild  forest. 

While  at  New  Orleans,  Lincoln  saw  the  insti- 
tution of  slavery  in  one  of  its  most  revolting  and 
reprehensible  aspects.  Nothing  was  more  com- 
mon in  those  days  than  the  traffic  in  slaves,  and 
New  Orleans  was  the  greatest  slave-market  in 
the  Union.  One  could  not  walk  extensively  in 
the  streets  without  being  an  involuntary  witness 
to  the  horror  and  infamy  of  the  institution.  Lin- 
coln saw  an  octoroon  girl  offered  for  sale  on 
the  auction-block.  As  the  auctioneer  dilated  on 
her  physical  perfections  to  the  lecherous  crowd 
of  tobacco-chewers  and  whiskey-blossomed  sots 
congregated  in  the  market,  and  these  passed 
ribald  jests  on  the  subject,  the  young  Northerner 
was  sickened  by  the  scene,  and  hastily  withdrew 
from  it,  prophetically  remarking  to  Hanks :  "If 
I  ever  get  a  chance  at  that  thing,  I'll  hit  it  hard." 

In  June,  the  venture  having  been  concluded, 
the  party  returned  up  the  river  on  the  deck  of  a 
steamer  as  far  as  St.  Louis,  where  the  three  com- 
panions left  Denton,  and  started  on  foot  for  their 
several  homes,  so  far  as  they  had  any.  The  com- 
panions followed  the  National  Road  as  far  as 
Edwardsville,  where  Hanks  left  them,  taking  a 
more  direct  road  to  his  home  in  Macon  County, 
and  Lincoln  and  Johnston  proceeded  via  the  Na- 
tional Road,  then  extensively  travelled,  a  few 
miles  beyond  Ewington,  where  they  made  a  de- 
tour north.  Travel-stained  and  footsore,  they 
finally  presented  themselves  at  the  humble  cabin 
door  of  Thomas  and  Sallie  Bush  Lincoln. 

After  seeing  the  world,  the  prospect  of  settling 
down  in  the  Macon  County  cabin  was  not  very 
inviting  at  best.     The  region  was  new,  and  the 


74  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

people  all  poor.  Thomas  Lincoln's  hut  was  as 
rude  and  uncomfortable  as  was  possible,  and 
there  was  no  incentive  to  exertion,  nothing  to 
stimulate  the  ambition.  Yet  Thomas  was  cheery 
and  stout  of  heart.  His  squalor,  so  apparent  to 
every  one  else,  was  unobserved  by  him.  In  the 
dun  sorroundings  of  his  rude  abode,  his  spirits 
were  jocund,  and  he  was  wholly  unconscious  that 
life  held  any  greater  happiness  than  that  which 
animated  his  existence. 

A  few  years  after  this  time,  William  G.  Greene 
was  going  to  Kentucky  on  a  visit,  and  as  his  way 
would  lie  near  to  where  Thomas  Lincoln  lived, 
Abraham  requested  him  to  visit  his  father  and 
deliver  him  a  letter.  Greene  did  so,  and  as  he 
approached  the  cabin  just  before  nightfall,  his 
heart  sank  within  him,  for  he  beheld  the  most 
wretched  hovel  he  had  encountered  in  his  jour- 
ney. It  was  without  a  stable,  outhouse  of  any 
kind,  and  not  a  shrub  or  tree  was  in  sight.  The 
proprietor  appeared  and,  as  soon  as  he  learned 
the  situation,  exclaimed  cheerily :  "Get  right 
down,  Bill.  You're  welcome,  heartily  welcome. 
I'm  right  glad  to  see  you.  I'll  make  you  and 
your  beast  so  comfortable  that  you'll  stay  with 
me  a  week.  Here's  just  the  place  to  hitch  your 
beast  [indicating  a  log  of  the  cabin  with  a  pro- 
jecting end]  ;  I  use  it  to  dress  deer-hides  on;  and 
I've  got  an  iron  kettle  here;  jest  the  thing  for 
a  feed-trough,  and  lots  of  shelled  corn ;  so  all 
you've  got  to  do  is  to  make  yourself  at  hum  as 
long  as  you  like." 

Greene  said  that  Thomas  was  one  of  the 
shrewdest  ignorant  men  he  ever  saw — that  he 
took  in,  at  a  glance,  the  feelings  of  dismay  which 
possessed   the   stranger   as   he   rode   up   to   the 


LINCOLN  AS  A  LABORER  75 

wretched  abode,  and  that  his  task  was  to  dispel 
that  feeling;  and  he  did  it  by  making  the  guest 
feel  that  the  host,  at  least,  thought  everything 
about  to  be  of  prime  excellence.  Seated  before 
the  rude  hearth,  Thomas  Lincoln  said,  "I  suppose 
that  Abe  is  still  fooling  hisself  with  eddication. 
I  tried  to  stop  it,  but  he  has  got  that  fool  idea 
in  his  head,  and  it  can't  be  got  out.  Now  I  hain't 
got  no  eddication,  but  I  get  along  far  better  than 
ef  I  had.  Take  bookkeepin' — why,  I'm  the  best 
bookkeeper  in  the  world !  Look  up  at  that  rafter 
thar.  Thar's  three  straight  lines  made  with  a 
firebrand :  ef  I  sell  a  peck  of  meal  I  draw  a  black 
line  across,  and  when  they  pay,  I  take  the  dish- 
cloth and  jest  rub  it  out;  and  that  thar's  a  heap 
better'n  yer  eddication,"  etc.  (In  point  of  fact, 
a  part  of  his  business  was  to  superintend  a  small 
neighborhood  mill.) 

When  Mr.  Greene  left  his  garrulous  host  the 
next  morning,  he  said  he  felt  as  if  he  had  gone 
out  from  the  presence  of  an  intellectually  great, 
but  entirely  unpolished  and  uncultivated,  man. 
Thomas  Lincoln's  rude  methods  of  reasoning  re- 
minded him  of  the  son,  then  likewise  rude  and 
unpolished. 

After  remaining  at  his  father's  home  for  four 
or  five  weeks,  Abraham  left  it,  never  again  to 
enter  it  as  an  inmate.  He  had  but  a  very  light 
mortgage  on  the  future,  and  that  not  based  upon 
a  very  substantial  title.  Offutt,  with  all  his  reck- 
lessness and  frivolity,  had  a  considerable  fund  of 
sagacity  and  discernment,  and  he  saw  in  Lincoln 
the  making  of  a  great  man,  and  he  was  desirous 
to  ally  himself  as  closely  to  him  as  he  could; 
hence,  before  parting  at  St.  Louis,  he  entered 
into  an  arrangement  with  the  young  man  by  the 


76  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

terms  of  which  Offutt  was  to  tarry  long  enough 
there  to  gather  up  a  stock  of  goods,  and  open  a 
store  at  the  place  where  the  boat  had  stuck  on 
the  dam,  and  Lincoln  was  to  act  as  clerk.  The 
first  of  August  succeeding  was  designated  as  the 
period  for  the  commencement  of  this  business 
arrangement.  With  this  slender  hold  upon  for- 
tune, Lincoln  packed  his  entire  worldly  effects  in 
a  cotton  handkerchief,  and,  slinging  the  bundle 
across  his  shoulder,  and  bidding  a  dutiful  good- 
bye to  his  father  and  a  pathetic  farewell  to  Sallie 
Bush  Johnston,  he  set  his  face  westward  in  quest 
of  a  livelihood,  with  as  cheerless  a  prospect  as 
ever  attended  a  young  man  going  out  into  the 
world. 

During  the  year  1824,  James  Rutledge,  Ed- 
ward Rutledge,  brothers,  and  John  Miller  Cam- 
eron, their  brother-in-law,  came  from  Hender- 
son County,  Kentucky,  and  settled  in  that  portion 
of  Sangamon  County,  Illinois,  now  known  as 
Concord  Township  in  Menard  County.  Cameron 
was  a  Cumberland  Presbyterian  preacher;  the 
Rutledges  belonged  to  the  celebrated  family  of 
that  name  whose  members  were  the  political 
leaders  of  South  Carolina  in  the  auroral  days  of 
the  republic. 

Two  years  thereafter,  James  Rutledge  and  his 
brother-in-law,  Cameron,  built  a  rude  dam  across 
the  Sangamon  at  a  point  ten  miles  distant  from 
Concord,  and  established  a  very  primitive  saw- 
and  grist-mill,  known  interchangeably  as  "Cam- 
eron's" or  "Rutledge's"  mill.  It  was  upon  this 
dam  that  the  flatboat  of  Offutt's  venture  got  fast. 

Upon  the  brow  of  a  rocky  ridge  overlooking 
the  dam,  Mr.  Rutledge  and  Mr.  Cameron  each 
built  a  log  dwelling-house,  and  installed  their 


LINCOLN  AS  A  LABORER  77 

families  therein.  Their  neighbors  were  Bowlin 
Greene,  who  lived  a  half  or  three-quarters  of 
a  mile  north;  Bennett  Able,  whose  house  was  a 
mile  further  on ;  "Billy"  Greene,  who  lived  three 
miles  southwest ;  and  a  considerable  settlement 
a  few  miles  southwestward  in  "Clary's  Grove." 

Business  at  the  mill  prospered,  and  the  eco- 
nomical exigencies  demanded  more  commercial 
facilities  than  the  original  enterprise  furnished. 
So  Rutledge  and  Cameron  added  to  their  enter- 
prise by  purchasing  the  ridge  adjacent  to  the  mill 
and,  on  October  13,  1829,  laying  out  a  town  there. 
This  they  called  New  Salem,  a  name  indicative 
of  their  religious  turn  of  mind.  Cameron  had 
already  erected  a  log  hotel  of  four  rooms,  and, 
immediately  thereafter,  two  enterprising  young 
men  from  the  East,  Samuel  Hill  and  John  Mc- 
Namar,  alias  John  McNeil,  opened  a  small  store 
there ;  a  postoffice  was  established,  and  once  a 
week  the  stage-coach,  or  "mud  wagon,"  as  it  was 
termed,  in  its  journey  from  Havana  to  Spring- 
field, turned  aside  from  the  main  road,  ascended 
the  ridge,  and  gladdened  the  few  dwellers  there 
with  the  weaving  of  a  commercial  and  literary 
bond  between  them  and  the  outer  world. 

The  hamlet  took  on  a  slow,  plodding,  irregu- 
lar growth ;  people  came  for  fifty  miles  to  acquire 
anything  exotic  to  their  farms,  and,  in  natural 
course  of  trade,  this  supply  soon  came. 


CHAPTER  IV 

LINCOLN    AS   A    STOREKEEPER 

When  Denton  Offutt's  boat  stuck  on  the  dam, 
New  Salem  was  in  the  second  year  of  its  ex- 
istence, and  had  then  quite  a  population.  So  not- 
able and  unusual  an  occurrence  as  a  flatboat,  and 
especially  one  fast  on  their  mill-dam,  aroused  the 
curiosity  of  the  citizens,  and  brought  the  entire 
hamlet  to  the  river  banks,  where  Lincoln,  in  the 
role  of  commander,  was  the  most  conspicuous 
object.  So  he  was  not  forgotten,  when,  in  Au- 
gust thereafter,  he  walked  into  the  town  with  a 
bundle  in  a  handkerchief  slung  across  his  shoul- 
der, and  joined  the  little  knot  of  idlers  sitting  on 
their  haunches  on  the  shady  side  of  Hill's  store. 
He  opened  out  his  Pandora's  box  of  jokes,  af- 
filiated with  the  crowd  at  once,  and,  "as  the  set- 
ting sun  cast  his  lengthened  shadow  athwart  the 
little  village,  it  showed  no  sign  of  his  parting 
from  them." 

Lincoln  gave  no  intimation  as  to  what  brought 
him  there,  but  soon  endeared  himself  to  all  by 
exhibiting  great  muscular  strength,  bonhomie, 
and  his  propensity  to  entertain  by  anecdote. 

A  local  election  coming  on,  and  "scribes"  be- 
ing scarce,  the  village  schoolmaster,  Mentor 
Graham,  asked  him  if  he  could  write.  He  was 
cautious  then  as  thereafter.  "I  can  make  a  few 
rabbit-tracks,"  was  the  answer,  and  he  acted  as 

78  y 


LINCOLN  AS  A  STOREKEEPER  79 

clerk  of  election,  in  company  with  a  young  Mr. 
Nance.  It  should  be  noted  that  distrust  did  not 
prevail  in  those  new  regions  in  that  early  day. 
Decent-appearing  strangers  were  taken  into  the 
hearts  and  homes  of  the  people  without  criticism 
or  inspection ;  if  work  was  pressing,  they  were 
invited  to  buckle  to ;  if  they  proved  to  be  drones, 
they  were  stung  from  the  hive.  If  work  was 
slack,  they  were  invited  to  join  a  fishing  or  a 
hunting  party ;  to  social  life  they  must  contribute 
their  share.  In  that  respect,  Lincoln  was  a  valu- 
able acquisition ;  he  knew  no  one  when  he  came 
there  except  such  persons  as  he  had  seen  from 
the  flatboat,  yet  in  two  days  he  was  no  longer  a 
stranger. 

In  a  day  or  so  after  the  election,  a  Dr.  Nel- 
son, who  had  lived  in  the  neighborhood,  desired 
to  migrate  to  Texas,  and  proposed  to  float  with 
his  family  and  effects,  from  below  the  dam  at 
New  Salem,  to  Beardstown ;  thence  to  the  Miss- 
issippi, and,  finally,  down  that  majestic  stream  to 
the  mouth  of  Red  River  by  means  of  a  small  flat- 
boat.  Being  in  need  of  a  pilot  to  convoy  the 
outfit  to  Beardstown,  he  employed  Lincoln  to 
fill  that  responsible  role.  At  Beardstown  Lin- 
coln encountered  his  employer,  Offutt,  who  had 
just  arrived  with  a  part  of  his  goods,  the  rest 
being  due  by  the  next  steamer.  Lincoln  was 
left  to  await  their  arrival  and  to  see  to  their 
proper  storage  while  Offutt  should  repair  to 
New  Salem  in  order  to  rent  or  build  a  store,  and 
engage  teamsters  to  haul  over  the  goods.  Offutt 
employed  one  Potter  and  another  man  to  trans- 
port the  goods,  and  advised  them  that  on  the  way 
they  might  meet  Lincoln,  from  whom  they  should 
procure  the  necessary  order  for  them.     "How 


80  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

will  we  know  him?"  queried  Potter.  "You  can't 
mistake  him,"  replied  Offutt;  "he's  as  long  as  a 
beanpole,  and  as  awkward  as  he  is  long." 

They  met  Lincoln  on  the  highway,  and  he 
wrote  an  order  for  the  goods  on  a  blank  leaf  of 
a  small  memorandum  book  he  had  with  him. 
Potter  looked  at  it  and  observed,  "You've  spelled 
money,  m-o-n-y."  Lincoln  glanced  at  it,  and  re- 
plied, "Well,  they  can't  make  anything  else  out 
of  it."  The  goods  came  in  due  season,  and  Lin- 
coln took  charge  of  unboxing  and  putting  them 
in  position,  after  which  he  commenced  his  new 
career  as  the  most  awkward  and  ungainly  store- 
clerk,  probably,  in  the  State  of  Illinois.  Offutt, 
however,  was  perfectly  satisfied  with  his  clerk, 
and  besides  was  enthusiastic  in  his  praise  of  him 
as  a  man.  Haying  had  occasion,  during  his  flat- 
boat  trip,  to  witness  his  marvellous  strength  and 
to  see  his  prowess  satisfactorily  tested,  he  ad- 
mired Lincoln  extravagantly,  and  there  were  in 
New  Salem  those  who  shared  Offutt's  admira- 
tion, though  in  a  minor  degree. 

About  three  miles  distant  from  New  Salem 
was  a  large  grove,  termed  Clary's  Grove,  which 
was  inhabited  by  a  wild  lot  of  pioneers  from  Ken- 
tucky and  Tennessee.  Their  early  education  and 
proclivities  induced  the  habits  of  drinking,  fight- 
ing, wrestling,  horse-racing,  shooting  at  a  mark, 
etc.,  and  their  residence  on  the  frontier  with  no 
attrition  with  any  society  or  civilization  except 
themselves,  tended  to  foster  and  intensify  the  wild 
and  uncivilized  habits  and  tendencies  of  their 
youth.  The  Clary's  Grove  boys,  as  they  were 
termed,  when  animated  with  bad  whiskey,  and 
decorated  with  shooting-irons  of  the  rude  pat- 
terns incident  to  the  time,  were  so  thoroughly 


LINCOLN  AS  A  STOREKEEPER  8t 

reckless  and  on  mischief  bent,  as  to  be  a  source 
of  the  utmost  terror  to  all  well-disposed  people 
who  lived  in  the  track  of  their  bacchanalian 
forays.  Prior  to  the  advent  of  Cameron's  mill, 
they  had  had  no  stated  rendezvous,  but  when 
that  was  founded,  it  provided  a  sort  of  common 
rallying-point,  which  was  made  more  definite  and 
became  more  pronounced  when  Hill  and  Mc- 
Neil started  a  store  on  the  hill.  In  that  era  of 
the  settlement  of  our  frontier,  all  merchants  kept 
cheap  and  bad  whiskey  as  one  of  the  chief  and 
indispensable  staples.  This  necessary  article  of 
merchandise  was  purchased  in  its  fiery,  untamed 
state  and  condition  in  Cincinnati  and  St.  Louis 
at  the  stated  and  constant  price  of  eighteen  and 
three-quarters  cents  per  gallon.  A  thrifty  mer- 
chant could  easily,  after  he  got  started,  by  the 
aid  of  a  pump,  perform  the  benefaction  of  caus- 
ing three  barrels  to  flow  in  the  place  of  two. 

One  Jack  Armstrong  was  the  leader  of  these 
rowdy  pioneers.  Their  mode  of  life  was  to  waste 
the  first  five  secular  days  of  the  week  in  farm 
or  forest  labor,  then  on  Saturday  to  put  on  their 
best  attire,  mount  their  nags  together,  and  con- 
sume the  day  and  night  in  various  modes  and 
manifestations  of  frontier  rowdyism.  When  any 
issue  was  joined  with  any  other  segment  of  man- 
kind, the  trial  was  by  wager  of  battle,  in  which 
Jack  was  their  champion. 

The  closest  approach  to  organized  opposition 
to  the  pretensions  of  the  Clary  Grove  boys  was  a 
loose  band  known  as  the  "River  Timber  boys," 
who  inhabited  the  timber  belts  which  skirted  the 
river  bottoms.  The  several  issues  of  supremacy, 
as  wrestling,  fighting,  scrub-racing,  etc.,  had 
been  settled  between  these  two  sets  of  "back- 


82  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

settlement"  rowdies  before  the  advent  of  Lin- 
coln, and  "the  cankers  of  a  calm  world  and  a  long 
peace"  held  place  in  the  settlement.  It  was 
then  that  Bill  Clary,  one  of  the  "Clary  Grove" 
boys,  sounded  a  blast  on  his  bugle-horn  by  pro- 
posing a  little  bet,  at  the  close  of  a  heated  dis- 
pute with  Offutt,  that  Jack  Armstrong  could 
throw  Lincoln,  "the  best  two  out  of  three."  This 
very  greatly  annoyed  Lincoln;  preeminently  a 
man  of  peace,  he  abhorred  personal  conflict,  or 
anything  that  savored  of  ill-feeling.  He  had 
gained  the  good-will  of  everybody  in  that  little 
community,  and  deprecated  aught  that  would  dis- 
turb the  entente  cordiale.  Besides,  it  could  lead 
to  no  good  results.  What  matters  it  if  Jack  or 
Abe  was  the  stronger?  Lincoln  could  see  no 
utility  in  the  contest  proposed,  and  his  whole  soul 
rebelled  against  it.  Of  course  Offutt's  intentions 
were  good ;  he  supposed  that  Abe  would  come  off 
conqueror,  and  that  it  would  bring  zest,  if  not  sa- 
tiety, to  a  great  ambition. 

However,  the  edict  had  gone  forth,  and  Lin- 
coln must  pose  a  contestant,  or  be  branded  as  a 
coward  in  a  community  where  such  an  accusa- 
tion was  the  foulest  and  most  damnatory  con- 
ceivable— social  death,  in  fact. 

The  combatants  and  their  respective  allies  ad- 
journed to  the  scene  of  the  coming  fray,  bye-bets 
of  all  conceivable  kinds  were  made ;  dirk  knives, 
horse  pistols,  "slick  quarters,"  etc.,  were  staked 
galore  on  the  contest.  No  such  excitement  ever 
reigned  within  the  peaceful  precincts  of  New 
Salem  before  or  since.  Many  of  Lincoln's  bi- 
ographers have  enlarged  upon  the  prolific  theme 
of  this  contest,  but  for  some  reason  they  have 
generally  allowed  the  wings  of  their  imagination 


LINCOLN  AS  A  STOREKEEPER  %$ 

to  exceed  the  tail-feathers  of  their  judgment,  and 
have  woven  a  brilliant  fabrication  out  of  a  very 
commonplace  incident. 

The  most  zealous  friend  whom  Lincoln  had 
on  the  field  of  conflict,  aside  from  Offutt,  was 
William  G.  Greene.  He  narrated  the  incident  to 
me  in  this  wise.  It  does  not  attest  the  strength 
of  Samson  to  be  a  part  of  his  friend's  equipment, 
as  other  biographers  do,  but  it  does  in  a  charac- 
teristic manner  show  his  moral  force.  The  two 
wrestlers  caughts  "holts,"  and  the  contest  began ; 

Long  time  in  even   scale  the  battle  hung. 

In  point  of  fact,  the  men  were  so  easily  balanced 
that  not  the  slightest  headway  was  made. 

Lincoln  took  the  sensible  view  of  the  case  then, 
as  always.  "Let's  quit,"  said  he.  "We  are 
evenly  matched,  and  we  may  as  well  quit  even." 

The  Clary  Grove  crowd  foolishly  deemed  this 
frank  confession  as  an  exhibition  of  the  "white 
feather,"  and  a  huge  yell  of  derision  and  defiance 
enforced  the  decree  that  the  contest  must  go  on. 

Lincoln,  now  goaded  to  a  sort  of  semi-despera- 
tion, profiting  by  his  great  strength,  and  roused 
to  its  highest  pitch  of  achievement  by  the  attend- 
ant excitement,  fairly  lifted  his  burly  antagonist 
off  his  feet,  but  the  dexterous  wrestler,  by  an 
adroit  movement  of  his  supple  legs,  landed 
squarely  on  his  feet,  instead  of  on  his  back  as 
Lincoln  had  intended,  and,  in  his  turn,  by  what  is 
termed  in  sporting  vernacular  a  foul,  threw  Lin- 
coln. A  victory  thus  achieved  was  only  main- 
tainable by  the  ultima  ratio  re  gum;  in  other 
words,  by  open  war. 

Lincoln  rose  from  the  ground  with  every  fea- 
ture indicative  of  vengeance.    Said  he,  in  a  tone 


84  'LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

and  manner  which  struck  consternation  to  all 
present :  "That  won't  do ;  and  I'll  show  any  one 
who  doubts  it,  that  it  won't  do.  You  can't  make 
that  game  work  with  me  !"  The  crowd  understood 
perfectly  what  Lincoln  meant ;  and  it  was  at  once 
claimed  that  Jack  took  that  mode  of  acceding  to 
Lincoln's  desire  to  end  the  contest  by  calling  it 
a  draw.  So  the  entente  cordiale  was  restored, 
and  Lincoln  and  Jack  Armstrong  became  thence- 
forth the  closest  of  friends,  which  amity  and  con- 
cord bound  and  embraced  the  entire  Armstrong 
family.  In  1858  Lincoln  saved  a  son  of  the  fam- 
ily from  the  gallows,  and  during  the  war  dis- 
charged him  from  service. 

It  need  scarcely  be  added  that  Lincoln's  prow- 
ess and  manhood  were  put  to  no  further  test  in 
that  neighborhood ;  but  I  should  add  that  at  an 
election  held  one  year  thereafter,  at  which  Lin- 
coln was  a  candidate,  every  vote  was  cast  for  him 
from  Clary's  Grove — it  would  have  been  social 
ostracism  to  any  one  to  do  otherwise. 

Offutt's  restless  ambition  demanded  other 
worlds  to  conquer  than  a  small  store,  so  he  added 
to  his  list  of  mercantile  ventures  a  lease  of  the 
mill,  and  he  then  employed  William  G.  Greene, 
a  son  of  a  neighboring  family,  aged  eighteen  or 
nineteen  years,  as  an  assistant.  Between  the  two 
clerks  a  friendship  and  cordiality  sprang  up 
which  lasted  as  long  as  the  life  of  the  senior.  In 
fact,  Mr.  Greene,  still  alive,  and  now  a  wealthy 
banker  and  capitalist,  avers  that  even  in  those 
rude  days  he  had  a  belief  that  Lincoln  was  the 
greatest  man  who  ever  lived,  and  it  is  a  source 
of  great  satisfaction  to  him  to  find  the  opinion 
of  the  polite  world  of  ;his  enlightened  day  and 
generation  rapidly  crystallizing  to  his  belief. 


LINCOLN  AS  A  STOREKEEPER  85 

Each  morning  the  two  clerks,  and  sometimes 
the  proprietor,  would  wend  their  way  down  the 
slanting-  road  which  led  to  the  bottom  land  north- 
ward, and  proceed  up  the  State  road  for  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile  to  a  primitive  farmstead 
owned  by  one  Bowlin  Greene,  where  they  would 
get  their  breakfast,  generally  of  bread  and  milk. 
They  would  greet  their  motherly  hostess  as  Aunt 
Nancy.  At  noon  and  evening  they  would  repeat 
this  custom,  for  their  boarding-place  was  at  this 
farm,  and  they  slept  on  a  narrow  cot  in  the  loft 
of  the  store. 

Lincoln's  morals  were  singularly  chaste  and 
pure  for  that  day.  Although  the  customs  were 
wellnigh  universal  to  drink,  chew,  smoke,  and 
habitually  swear,  he  indulged  in  none  of  these 
habits.  Mr.  Greene  avers  that  he  never  saw  him 
take  a  drink  of  liquor  but  once,  and  then  he  at 
once  spat  it  out ;  that  he  never  chewed  or  smoked, 
and  that  he  never  swore  but  once  in  his  presence 
(which  I  shall  refer  to  again). 

Lincoln  was  also  sedulous  to  impart  moral  in- 
struction when  it  could  be  effectually  done,  with- 
out improper  intrusion  upon  the  prejudices  of 
the  delinquent.  William  Greene  was,  like  ordi- 
nary youth  in  those  days,  addicted  to  petty  gam- 
bling, betting,  etc.  Lincoln  perceived  it,  and  one 
day  said  to  his  fellow  clerk:  "Billy,  you  ought 
to  stop  gambling  with  Estep."  Greene  replied: 
"I'm  ninety  cents  behind,  and  I  can't  quit  till  I've 
won  it  back."  Said  Lincoln:  "If  I'll  help  you 
win  that  back,  will  you  promise  never  to  gamble 
again?"  Greene  reflected  a  moment,  and  made 
the_ promise.  Lincoln  then  said:  "Here  are  hats 
which  are  on  sale  at  seven  dollars  each,  and  you 
need  one.     Now,  when  Estep  comes,  you  draw 


86  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

him  on  by  degrees,  and  finally  bet  him  one  of 
those  hats  that  I  can  lift  a  full  forty-gallon  barrel 
of  whiskey,  and  take  a  drink  out  of  the  bung- 
hole."  Accordingly  they  fixed  the  barrel  so  that 
the  bunghole  would  be  in  the  right  place,  and 
when  the  victim  appeared,  after  a  little  parley- 
ing and  bantering,  the  bet  was  made ;  Lincoln 
then  squatted  down  and  lifted  one  end  of  the 
barrel  on  one  knee,  and  then  lifted  the  other  end 
on  the  other  knee,  and,  stooping  over,  actually 
succeeded  in  taking  a  drink  out  of  the  bunghole, 
which,  however,  he  immediately  spat  out. 
Greene  thus  won  the  hat,  and  never  gambled 
again. 

Offutt  soon  "busted-up,"  and  left  his  creditors 
in  the  lurch;  and  Lincoln  did  odd  jobs  when  and 
as  he  could,  for  a  time.  He  had  an  assured  home 
at  Bowlin  Greene's,  and  another  at  Jack  Arm- 
strong's ;  and  when  under  the  stress  of  difficulties 
he  wended  his  way  to  one  or  the  other  with  per- 
fect freedom,  and  was  a  welcome  guest. 

Ten  years  thereafter,  Mr.  William  G.  Greene 
encountered  Offutt  at  Memphis,  Tenn.,  posing  as 
a  veterinary  surgeon,  and  also  as  a  horse-tamer. 
He  was  fantastically  arrayed  and  prone  to  gar- 
rulity, but  seemed  to  be  eking  out  an  existence 
by  his  calling.  Let  us  not  disdain  this  wild  prod- 
uct of  frontier  civilization,  however,  for  we 
should  cherish  and  honor  any  agency  in  the  evo- 
lution of  Abraham  Lincoln.  Offutt  was  his  gen- 
erous friend,  and  gave  him  his  first  start  in  life. 
Through  his  agency,  Lincoln  was  transplanted 
from  the  sombre  wilderness  of  Hanks's  neigh- 
borhood to  the  more  progressive  conditions  and 
more  congenial  surroundings  of  New  Salem — 
his  first  living  in  an  aggregate  community. 


LINCOLN  AS  A  STOREKEEPER  87 

As  a  merchant's  clerk  in  New  Salem  had  an 
abundance  of  leisure,  Lincoln  spent  much  time  in 
reading  and  studying.  He  was  never  without  a 
book.  From  Billy  Greene  he  borrowed  Kirkham's 
grammar,  and  from  his  brother,  L.  M.  Greene, 
he  also  borrowed  Lindley  Murray's  grammar; 
Ann  Rutledge  used  to  lend  him  her  grammar 
to  study  of  nights,  and  this  same  grammar  is  in 
possession  of  the  Rutledge  family  with  the  name 
of  the  once  fair  owner  on  a  fly-leaf,  and  that  of 
the  great  Emancipator  printed  under  it,  both 
names  inscribed  by  himself. 

Lincoln  recited  his  lessons  in  grammar  to 
Greene,  and  in  three  weeks  knew  as  much  of  the 
subject  as  Greene.  At  Washington,  in  after 
years,  Greene  was  in  the  Executive  Chamber,  and 
Lincoln  took  pride  and  pleasure  in  introducing 
Greene  to  members  of  his  Cabinet  and  others  as 
his  "grammar  master." 

New  Salem  was  bounded  on  the  south  by  a 
ravine,  at  the  foot  of  which  flowed  a  rugged, 
sprightly  rivulet  termed  "Rock  Creek,"  or 
"Greene's  Rocky  Branch,"  which  could  be  read- 
ily crossed  by  pedestrians.  At  the  top  of  the 
ridge  beyond  this  branch  was  a  log  schoolhouse 
in  which  one  Mentor  Graham,  a  professional 
pedagogue,  kept  school,  and  to  which  the  chil- 
dren and  youth  of  New  Salem,  and  the  adjacent 
country,  repaired.  Graham  was  devoted  to  his 
calling,  for  he  taught  in  log  schoolhouses  for  fifty 
consecutive  years. 

Mentor  lived  at  New  Salem  during  his  term 
of  service  on  the  adjacent  hill,  and  to  him  Lin- 
coln applied  for  private  tuition,  with  the  result 
that  he  made  rapid  progress  in  mathematics, 
geography,  grammar,  and  spelling.     A  favorite 


88  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

diversion  of  his  was  to  visit  the  little  rustic 
school  at  spelling-  time,  and  sit  on  the  back  bench 
and  listen  attentively  as  the  lesson  progressed. 
Occasionally  he  would  make  some  comment,  as : 
"I  could  almost  spell  that  myself" ;  but  his  pres- 
ence was  always  welcome,  and  his  intrusion  was 
never  reprobated. 

It  was  a  marked  characteristic  of  Lincoln  that 
under  all  circumstances  and  in  every  condition, 
his  mind  was  ever  on  the  alert  in  pursuit  of 
knowledge.  Books  were  then  very  scarce,  but  he 
somehow  obtained  access  to  them  and  literally 
possessed  himself  of  their  contents,  assimilating 
the  knowledge  to  himself,  and  to  his  own  needs. 
In  reading  his  speeches  and  official  documents, 
one  can  hardly  conceive  that  their  composer  ac- 
quired his  academical  knowledge  almost  entirely 
out  of  school  and  without  a  teacher ;  his  spelling 
was  almost  without  flaw,  and  his  syntax  practi- 
cally accurate.  His  faculty  of  composition  was 
not  only  faultless,  but  embellished  with  the  grace 
and  adornment  of  belles-lettres. 

After  Lincoln  had  terminated  his  novitiate  in 
mercantile  life  with  the  downfall  of  Offutt,  his 
next  mercantile  venture  and  experience  was 
achieved  in  a  mode  peculiar,  and  possible  only, 
to  the  business  methods,  or  lack  of  any,  of  the 
frontier. 

It  occurred  thus :  Reuben  Radford  brought  a 
stock  of  goods  to  New  Salem,  and  opened  a  store. 
He  was  duly  warned  against  the  idiosyncrasies 
of  the  "Clary's  Grove  boys,"  but  incorrectly  rea- 
soned that  he  could  keep  them  under  control,  if 
he  limited  their  allowance  of  drinks  to  two  each. 
It  so  happened,  however,  that  upon  the  occasion 
of  their  first  visit  to  New  Salem  after  his  settle- 


LINCOLN  AS  A  STOREKEEPER  89 

ment  there,  he  was  on  a  visit  in  the  country  three 
miles   distant,   and   his   young  brother   was   in 
charge. 

After  the  crowd  had  drank  twice  around,  the 
young  clerk  informed  them  that  he  had  reached 
the  limit  of  his  orders,  and  that  the  faucet  to  the 
whiskey  barrel  was  laid  under  an  embargo  till 
their  next  visit.     That  was  an  abnormal  condi- 
tion of  affairs,  and  not  in  accordance  with  the 
theory  of  government  and   latitudinarianism  of 
conduct    for   which   their   forefathers   "fit,"   and 
they  sought,  but  in  vain,  so  to  impress,  by  logical 
methods,  the  warden  of  the  indispensable  spiritus 
frumenti.     But  the  youth  was  a  rigid  discipli- 
narian, and    declined    to    yield;    whereupon    the 
crowd  whipped  out  their  horse  pistols  and  made 
targets  of  the  various  alluring  show  bottles  of 
whiskey  which  adorned  the  shelves,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  spread  chaos  and  devastation  throughout 
the  whole  exterior.    The  "boys"  then  made  good 
use  of  the  exhilaration  which  an  unlimited  supply 
of  whiskey  superinduced,  and  riot   reigned  su- 
preme in  that  neighborhood,  extending  into  the 
"wee   sma'   hours"   of  the   succeeding  morning. 
Shortly  before  day,  Radford's  peaceful  sleep  was 
disturbed  by  the  bacchanalian  yelling  of  the  row- 
dies en  route  for  their  homes,  and  fearing  danger 
at  his  store,  he  mounted  his  horse  and  rode  post- 
haste  toward  the   little   hamlet.     Billy   Greene, 
then  still  a  boy,  was  on  his  pony  going  early  to 
mill.     Seeing  Radford  dash  past  him,  his  horse 
reeking  with  sweat,  he  followed  at  a  breakneck 
pace  to  learn  the  cause  of  such  excitement.    Rad- 
ford   reached    his    store,  and,  hastily    alighting, 
stood  on  the  platform  and  gazed  in  at  the  open 
door  with  dismay  upon  the  broken  bottles  and 


90  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

other  debris  of  the  saturnalian  debauch.  Greene, 
reaching  the  store  a  minute  later,  rode  up  to  the 
(  open  window  just  as  Radford  in  desperation  ex- 
■  claimed :  "I'll  sell  out  this  whole  'shebang'  at  the 
first  offer  I  get."  Greene,  at  a  venture,  ex- 
claimed, "I  offer  $400."  "Done,"  said  Radford ; 
"the  concern's  yours."  "But  I've  got  no  money," 
said  Greene.  "Never  mind  about  money,"  said 
the  disgusted  merchant.  "Come  right  in  and 
give  me  your  note  at  six  months,"  which  Greene 
promptly  and  recklessly  did.  Radford  bestrode 
his  steed  and  left  young  Greene  "monarch  of  all 
he  surveyed."  The  store  was  located  imme- 
diately opposite  to  the  hotel  (so-called)  where 
Lincoln,  at  that  time,  abode.  Just  at  this  moment 
he  appeared  at  the  washstand  out  of  doors.  See- 
ing the  youthful  speculator,  and  divining  his  em- 
barrassment of  riches,  Lincoln  said  cheerily: 
"Hold  on,  Bill,  till  I  get  a  bite  of  breakfast,  an' 
we'll  take  an  inventory  and  see  what  you've  got." 
"I  doan'  want  any  more  inventory,"  was  the  re- 
ply. "The  Clary  Grovers  have  done  all  the  in- 
ventoryin'  I  want."  But  after  breakfast  Lincoln 
and  Greene  went  through  the  stock,  and  found 
that  the  stock  was  worth  seven  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars,  at  least.  Lincoln  was  out  of  a  job  just 
then,  and  one  William  Berry  was  then  also  out 
of  employment,  but  the  possessor,  just  at  that 
juncture,  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  in  cash, 
and  a  good  horse,  saddle,  and  bridle.  In  less 
than  an  hour  from  the  time  the  inventory  was 
made,  a  trade  had  been  made  as  follows :  Berry 
and  Lincoln  formed  a  partnership  and  bought  out 
Greene;  Berry  paid  him  two  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars  in  cash  and  gave  him  the  horse,  saddle, 
and  bridle,  estimated  at  one  hundred  dollars,  and 


LINCOLN  AS  A  STOREKEEPER  91 

assumed  payment  of  his  debt  to  Radford,  and 
Greene  was  to  have  the  store  receipts  for  that 
day.  The  new  firm  then  went  into  possession 
and  took  in  fifteen  dollars  and  a  Spanish  shilling ; 
and  young  Greene,  highly  elated  by  his  first  busi- 
ness venture,  rode  home  that  night  with  two  hun- 
dred and  sixty-five  dollars  twelve  and  one-half 
cents  and  a  horse,  saddle,  and  bridle  as  a  result 
of  his  investment  of  a  boy's  pluck  and  enterprise. 

The  firm  of  Berry  &  Lincoln  next  absorbed 
the  stock  and  business  of  a  moribund  firm  en- 
titled James  and  Rowan  Herndon.  The  new  en- 
terprise was,  however,  greatly  handicapped,  first, 
by  the  lack  of  capital  of  the  firm,  and  secondly, 
by  the  devotion  of  the  senior  partner  to  the  whis- 
key jug,  and  of  the  junior  partner  to  "star-eyed 
science." 

While  Lincoln  does  not  seem  to  have  been  ani- 
mated with  any  great  ambition  to  achieve  distinc- 
tion as  a  clerk  or  miller,  he  yet  was  rigidly  hon- 
est as  to  money  matters  and  to  representations 
made  in  course  of  trade.  He  would  not  dissem- 
ble, color  the  truth,  or  excite  a  customer's  desire 
to  buy  unnecessarily  or  beyond  his  means ;  he 
frankly  told  good  customers  that  the  very 
whiskey  which  he  drew  for  them  would  prove 
their  ruin,  and  that  the  tobacco  which  he  dealt 
out  was  nasty  and  unfit  for  use.  If  he  knew 
nothing  of  the  merits  or  quality  of  goods  under 
review  he  frankly  said  so.  His  propensity  to 
entertain  by  stories  attracted  customers  to  some 
extent,  but  the  same  tendency,  likewise,  ob- 
structed business,  for  it  was  no  unusual  spectacle 
of  a  Saturday  to  behold  sales  arrested,  while 
Lincoln  was  regaling  a  crowd  in  the  store  by  in- 
cidents, "airy  nothings,"  but  to  which  he  gave 


92  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

"a  local  habitation  and  a  name."  Upon  such  oc- 
casions uproarious  laughter  was  heard  from  one 
end  of  the  little  hamlet  to  the  other.  Mrs.  Hill 
says  that  she  could  always  tell  when  Lincoln  had 
let  himself  loose.  She  adds  that  his  stories 
seemed  never  to  lose  interest,  that  his  entertain- 
ments were  apparently  as  fully  appreciated  in 
the  fourth  year  of  their  run  as  during  the  first. 

So  far  as  appeared,  Lincoln  did  not  seem  to 
have  any  exalted  ambition  or  towering  aspira- 
tions. His  juvenile  prophecies  of  attaining  the 
Presidency  seem  to  have  evanesced  with  his  cal- 
low youth,  and  he  seemed  content  to  make  both 
ends  meet  financially,  to  entertain  his  fellows 
with  clownish  antic  and  ludicrous  stories,  and  to 
climb  the  hill  of  science  in  a  usual  way  by  aid 
of  books  and  conversation  with  educated  persons. 
He  was  not  a  brilliant  genius,  but  a  struggling, 
slow-plodding  one. 


CHAPTER  V 

SOLDIER,    SURVEYOR,    AND    POSTMASTER 

I  have  already  stated  that  Lincoln's  nature, 
disposition,  and  training  indisposed  him  to  stable 
and  continuous  business,  and  impelled  him  to 
change  and  desultory  employments.  Hence  it 
was  that  the  episode  of  the  Black  Hawk  War 
was  the  precise  sort  of  adventure  which  har- 
monized with  his  nature.  This  brief  but  thrill- 
ing episode  in  the  early  Illinois  history  oc- 
curred thus :  One  Mucata  Muhicatah,  mean- 
ing Black  Hawk,  was  principal  chief  of  the  Sacs 
and  Foxes,  a  tribe  which  occupied  the  northwest- 
ern part  of  Illinois,  including  the  teeming  Rock 
River  valley.  As  early  as  1804,  General  Harri- 
son, on  behalf  of  the  United  States  Government, 
made  a  treaty  at  St.  Louis  with  several  of  the 
minor  chiefs,  for  the  cession  of  their  country  to 
the  United  States ;  which  treaty,  after  lying  dor- 
mant and  only  partially  executed  for  some  years, 
was  confirmed  by  the  tribe  in  181 5  and  1816. 
The  last  treaties  distinctly  embraced  in  the  ces- 
sion the  great  town  of  the  Indians  near  the 
mouth  of  Rock  River.  Black  Hawk  was  a  proud, 
independent  chieftain  of  great  valor  and  renown, 
having  been  one  of  Tecumseh's  chief  councillors 
and  warriors.  His  word  was  law  to  the  better 
order  of  his  tribe.  He  despised  the  American 
pioneers,  but  was  enamoured  of  the  British.    He 

93 


94  'LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

always  denied  the  validity  of  the  treaty,  averring 
that  it  was  made  only  with  some  of  the  minor 
chiefs,  and  then  by  chicanery  and  compulsion. 
These  chiefs  were  imprisoned  for  murder,  and 
the  whites  had  made  them  drunk  and  then  ex- 
torted the  treaty  from  them  as  the  price  of  their 
liberty.  So  Black  Hawk  resisted  removal  from 
the  land,  and  had  to  be  transported  into  Iowa 
by  force. 

One  provision  of  the  treaty  was  that  none  of 
the  tribe  should  revisit  Illinois  without  first  ob- 
taining leave  of  the  President  or  of  the  Governor 
of  Illinois.  This  permission,  it  is  needless  to 
say,  it  was  not  intended  that  they  should  ever 
obtain,  although  the  whites  led  the  Indians  to 
suppose  they  could  get  it  for  the  asking.  Not 
being  able  to  do  so,  Black  Hawk  invaded  the 
State  in  the  early  spring  of  1831  with  his  tribe, 
avowing  his  intention  to  "plant  corn"  in  the  Rock 
River  valley. 

General  Gaines,  then  in  command  of  the 
United  States  forces  at  Rock  Island,  called  on 
the  Governor  of  Illinois  for  seven  hundred  mi- 
litia to  expel  the  Indians.  Fifteen  hundred  came 
in  response  to  the  Governor's  call.  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  on  his  flatboat  trip  to  New  Orleans 
at  the  time,  or  he  would  probably  have  been 
among  the  volunteers.  The  troops  marched 
against  the  Indians,  who  promptly  ran  away  and 
recrossed  into  Iowa,  abandoning  their  large  town 
at  the  mouth  of  Rock  River,  which  the  troops 
burnt.  Black  Hawk  himself  then  made  a  treaty, 
agreeing  to  remain  west  of  the  river.  But  with 
the  advent  of  planting  time  the  next  season,  the 
old  chief  gazed  with  covetous  eyes  upon  the  val- 
ley of  so  many  bright  reminiscences,  before  the 


'SOLDIER,  SURVEYOR,  POSTMASTER      95 

spoilers  came ;  and  allying  Keokuk,  another  chief 
of  renown  with  him,  crossed  the  Mississippi 
again  with  all  the  warriors,  braves,  squaws,  and 
papooses  of  the  Sac  and  Fox  nation.  Again  the 
United  States  commander  called  on  the  State  au- 
thorities for  a  militia  contingent. 

One  of  the  normal  incidents  of  frontier  life  is 
the  maintenance  of  possession  by  force.  The 
early  Western  pioneers  attended  their  "logroll- 
ings" and  "shindigs,"  gun  on  shoulder,  and  the 
animus  of  shooting  Indians  in  their  mind. 
Hence  this  call  prognosticated  a  diversion  to  the 
frontiersmen  of  Illinois,  and  in  response,  eight- 
een hundred  men  met  together  at  Beardstown, 
the  period  of  enlistment  being  a  term  of  thirty 
days. 

The  spirit  of  mercantile  adventure  had 
"winked  out"  in  the  mind  of  Lincoln  by  this  time. 
He  was  one  of  the  first  volunteers  in  the  county 
of  Sangamon.  The  rendezvous  of  the  Sangamon 
contingent  was  about  seven  miles  west  of  New 
Salem,  and  at  that  point  the  Adjutant  General 
attended,  in  order  to  organize  the  company,  the 
date  being  April  21,  1832.  The  chief  candidate 
for  captain  was  one  William  Fitzpatrick,  a  saw- 
miller.  Lincoln  had  also  been  mentioned  in  a 
loose  way  for  the  distinction,  although,  unlike 
Fitzpatrick,  he  had  not  actually  canvassed  for  the 
honor.  It  so  happened  that  Lincoln  had  worked 
for  Fitzpatrick,  who  had  treated  him  meanly. 
So  Lincoln  was  moved  by  more  than  ambition 
to  enter  into  the  contest.  The  men  being  mus- 
tered in  line,  the  adjutant  requested  all  who 
were  candidates  for  the  office  of  captain  to  ad- 
vance and  face  about  at  right  angles  to  the  line. 
Thereupon  Lincoln  and  Fitzpatrick  marched  out, 


96  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN      ' 

after  which  the  order  was  given  for  the  men  to 
file  in  line  behind  the  candidate  whose  success 
they  desired.  The  first  man  to  move  was  Billy 
Greene,  who  planted  himself  squarely  at  Lin- 
coln's back.  At  the  end  of  the  voting  Lincoln 
had  double  the  number  of  Fitzpatrick's  followers 
and  seven  more.  While  the  vote  was  in  progress 
and  its  issue  was  palpable,  Lincoln,  casting  an 
eye  rearward,  placed  his  brawny  hand  on 
Greene's  shoulder  and  exclaimed  excitedly :  "111 
be  damned,  Bill,  but  I've  beat  him."  Mr.  Greene, 
sixty  years  thereafter,  informed  me  that  that  was 
the  only  time  he  ever  heard  Lincoln  utter  an 
oath.  Lincoln  informed  me  in  general  terms  of 
this,  his  first  candidacy,  and  observed  that  no 
event  of  his  life  ever  gave  him  such  a  thrill  of 
happiness  as  this  triumph. 

This  so-called  war  was  replete  with  wild  inci- 
dents and  some  massacre,  although  nowhere  did 
it  attain  the  dignity  of  genuine  civilized  warfare. 
In  fact,  it  had  more  the  substance  of  a  grand 
frolic.  Its  noted  features,  so  far  as  Lincoln  was 
concerned,  were  in  his  being  mustered  into 
service  by  Robert  Anderson,  then  a  Lieutenant, 
and,  in  1861,  Major  in  command  at  Charleston, 
and  in  the  fact  that  Jefferson  Davis,  likewise  a 
Lieutenant,  was  engaged  in  the  same  unheroic 
enterprise. 

The  reckless  character  of  the  recruits  forbade 
any  enforcement  of  discipline.  Each  man  felt 
himself  to  be  as  good  as  any  other,  the  offi- 
cers included,  and  respect  of  the  latter  was 
only  to  be  hoped  for  by  force  of  character,  and 
in  no  wise  by  virtue  of  dignity  or  conventional 
rank. 

Lincoln  was  as  closely  environed  by  this  con- 


SOLDIER,  SURVEYOR,  POSTMASTER      97 

dition  of  affairs  as  the  others,  but  it  was  in  no 
wise  galling  to  him.  He  was  always,  in  little  or 
supreme  greatness  alike,  quite  willing  to  abnegate 
his  rank  and  title,  and  rely  exclusively  for  "au- 
dience and  attention"  on  his  manhood  and  moral 
force. 

To  one  of  his  earliest  orders  about  an  un- 
important matter,  it  was  suggested  that  he  "go 
to  hell,"  and  when  Lincoln  interposed  to  save  a 
captive  Indian  from  unmerited  and  unauthorized 
death  at  the  hands  of  his  own  men,  he  was 
branded  as  a  coward,  to  which  his  sole  and  con- 
clusive reply  was  :  "Any  one  who  raly  thinks  I'm 
a  coward,  can  soon  be  convinced  of  his  mistake, 
if  he  so  desires." 

A  trifling  incident,  however,  exhibited  the 
force  of  will  and  estimation  in  which  Lincoln 
was  held  by  his  followers.  There  was  in  Captain 
Henry  L.  Webb's  company  from  Union  County 
a  very  strong  and  athletic  man  named  Nathan  M. 
Thompson,  nicknamed  "Dow"  Thompson.  The 
question  of  comparative  muscular  strength  aris- 
ing between  him  and  Lincoln,  they  resorted  to  a 
wrestling  match,  in  order  to  decide  it.  After 
struggling  for  a  while  with  no  advantage  either 
way,  Lincoln  said :  "This  is  the  strongest  man  I 
ever  met."  Soon  thereafter,  amid  great  and 
growing  excitement,  Lincoln  was  fairly  thrown. 
This  was  for  the  first  time  in  his  life.  The 
wrestlers  took  hold  again,  and  a  second  time  Lin- 
coln was  thrown.  Instantly  a  hundred  men 
jerked  off  their  coats,  crying  "Foul!"  An  equal 
number  on  the  other  side  followed  suit,  crying, 
"We'll  see  if  it  was."  A  deadly  fight  seemed 
imminent,  but  Lincoln  commanded  attention,  and 
said:  "Boys,  this  man  can  throw  me  fairly,  if 


98  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

he  didn't  do  it  this  time;  so  let's  give  up  that  I 
was  beat  fairly." 

Peace  reigned  at  once,  for,  as  my  informant 
said,  "His  word  was  more  than  law  and  gospel" 
to  his  followers. 

That  Lincoln  was  fond  of  the  tented  field  is 
palpable  in  this,  that  after  his  original  term  of 
service  and  his  captaincy  was  at  an  end,  he  re- 
enlisted  as  a  private  in  Captain  Elijah  Ues's  com- 
pany, and  served  as  such  to  the  end  of  the 
service. 

For  this  service,  besides  his  pay  of  eleven  dol- 
lars per  month  and  one  ration  a  day  from  the 
general  government,  he  likewise  obtained  under 
an  Act  of  Congress  enacted  in  1850,  a  land  war- 
rant, No.  52,076,  for  forty  acres  of  government 
land,  which  he  caused  to  be  located  in  his  own 
name  on  July  21,  1854,  on  the  northwest  quarter 
of  the  southwest  quarter  of  Section  20,  T.  84, 
North  Range  39  West,  in  Iowa,  and  in  the  suc- 
ceeding year,  he  obtained  a  patent  therefor, 
which  is  recorded  in  Vol.  280,  page  21,  of  United 
States  Patents.  Also  under  the  Act  of  1855,  ne 
received  still  another  land  warrant :  No.  68,465, 
for  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres,  was  issued 
to  him  on  April  22,  1856,  and  located  by  him  on 
December  2J,  1859,  on  the  east  half  of  the  north- 
east quarter,  and  the  northwest  quarter  of  the 
northeast  quarter  of  Section  18,  T.  84,  North 
Range  39  West,  in  the  State  of  Illinois ;  for  this 
a  patent  was  issued  on  September  10,  i860,  and 
recorded  in  Vol.  458,  page  53,  of  Patents. 

Lincoln  returned  from  the  war  (so-called)  to 
New  Salem  in  August,  1832,  and  found  the  busi- 
ness of  Berry  &  Lincoln  in  a  hopeless  tangle 
and  pretty  well  played-out.    So  he  and  his  luck- 


SOLDIER,  SURVEYOR,  POSTMASTER       99 

less  partner  sold  out  to  some  parties  named  Trent 
wholly  on  tick.  These  soon  "busted-up,"  and 
left  the  town.  Shortly  thereafter  Berry  died  in- 
solvent, and  Lincoln  was  left  not  only  without 
employment,  but  owing  eight  hundred  dollars  to 
a  prairie  Shylock  named  Van  Bergen,  who  had 
bought  for  a  song  the  notes  of  Lincoln  and 
Berry,  given  in  payment  for  the  stores  of  Rad- 
ford and  the  Herndons.  Eight  hundred  dollars 
was  then  a  far  greater  sum  than  it  would  be  now, 
and  Lincoln  was  accustomed  to  call  his  obliga- 
tions the  national  debt.  Billy  Greene  was  an  en- 
dorser for  two-thirds  of  the  amount,  which  he 
paid,  and  Lincoln  ultimately  repaid  him.  Finally, 
however,  Lincoln  paid  the  entire  debt,  principal 
and  interest,  amounting  to  about  eleven  hundred 
dollars;  the  last  payment  being  made  about  the 
year  1850. 

While  Lincoln  was  in  the  army,  encouraged 
thereto  by  the  flattering  vote  received  by  him  for 
captain,  he  avowed  his  purpose  to  run  for  the 
Legislature  in  the  fall.  Accordingly  he  pre- 
sented himself  as  a  candidate  to  some  of  the 
voters  at  an  executor's  sale  at  Pappsville,  a  small 
hamlet,  now  extinct,  located  in  the  western  part 
of  the  county.  Before  the  political  element  of 
the  gathering  was  brought  into  play  a  fight  oc- 
curred, in  which  Lincoln  acted  as  peacemaker  by 
hurling  the  ringleader  up  in  the  air,  so  that,  when 
he  lit,  he  was  too  much  surprised  to  resume  the 
fray,  and  it  ended  then  and  there. 

Lincoln  then  made  his  first  speech  intended 
for  a  practical  object ;  it  was  about  thus  :  "Fel- 
ler citizens :  I  reckon  you  all  know  me ;  I'm 
Abe  Lincoln.  I'm  runnin'  for  the  Legislature. 
I  needn't  take  long  to  give  you  my  principles.    I 


ioo  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

am  a  National  Bank  man ;  I  also  am  a  high-tariff 
man ;  and  in  favor  of  all  internal  improvements 
which  may  be  needful.  As  I  am  runnin',  I  of 
course  want  to  be  elected;  and  I  hope  all  my 
friends,  or  the  friends  of  the  above  principles, 
will  vote  for  me.  That  is  all.  I  thank  you  for 
your  attention,  and  I  will  thank  you  still  more 
if  I  get  your  votes." 

Lincoln  himself,  however,  did  not  expect  to  be 
elected;  he  had  no  general  acquaintance,  and  he 
held  such  radical  views  on  the  subject  of  the 
navigation  of  the  Sangamo  River  that  he  was 
regarded  by  the  matter-of-fact  voters  as  loony. 
Some  of  the  boys  even  deemed  his  candidacy  as 
a  joke ;  they  supposed  they  would  garner  a  boun- 
tiful crop  of  fun  and  diversion,  and  hence  en- 
couraged him  in  his  ambition.  The  responsible 
voters,  however,  could  not  seriously  believe  that 
so  ill-dressed  and  fresh  a  spectacle  could  decently 
represent  this  important  and  populous  county  in 
the  Legislature,  yet  he  received  657  votes,  head- 
ing the  list  of  five  other  defeated  candidates.  In 
his  own  precinct  of  New  Salem  he  obtained  277 
votes  out  of  a  total  of  280  votes. 

Lincoln  was  now  entirely  out  of  business  and 
quite  uncertain  of  the  future.  He  had  among 
his  close  and  intimate  friends  at  New  Salem  one 
Miller,  a  blacksmith ;  him  he  consulted  as  to  the 
feasibility  of  adopting  that  calling,  but  he  took 
no  practical  steps  in  that  direction.  Destiny  had 
a  higher  mission  in  store  for  him. 

He  did  not,  in  point  of  fact,  enter  upon  the 
performance  of  any  stated  or  systematic  labor. 
Occasionally  he  would  "clerk"  for  a  day,  help  in 
the  cornfield,  chop  logs,  or  build  fences.  He  was 
fond  of  visiting  Bowlin  Greene,  or  Jack  Arm- 


SOLDIER,  SURVEYOR,  POSTMASTER     101 

strong,  and  staying  for  days  at  a  time,  during 
which  visits  he  would  indifferently  aid  the  men 
in  their  out-of-door  work,  and  help  the  women 
with  their  milking,  rocking  the  cradle,  or  other 
feminine  employments.  So  he  was  exceedingly 
popular  with  every  inmate  of  the  households  of 
his  hosts. 

While  in  the  war,  he  became  intimately  ac- 
quainted with  John  T.  Stuart,  a  Springfield  law- 
yer, and  having  revealed  his  ultimate  intention 
to  become  a  lawyer,  was  invited  to  make  use  of 
his  law  library  when  he  desired. 

Accordingly  Lincoln  started  early  one  morn- 
ing for  Springfield,  and  returned  the  same  even- 
ing with  Blackstone's  "Commentaries,"  then  pub- 
lished in  four  volumes.  During  his  walk  back  to 
New  Salem  he  had  managed  to  read  a  large  num- 
ber of  the  pages  of  the  first  volume.  Thereafter 
he  might  be  seen  either  lying  prone  upon  the 
ground,  or  seated  upon  the  woodpile,  or  in  any 
other  place  suitable  for  study,  abstracted  from 
the  outer  world,  and  wholly  occupied  with  the 
volume  before  him.  Russel  Godby,  an  emigrant 
from  Logan  County,  Virginia,  without  a  particle 
of  education  or  ideality,  once  saw  Lincoln  sitting 
astride  a  woodpile  with  a  book  in  his  hand.  Lin- 
coln had  worked  for  him,  and  he  regarded  him 
in  no  different  light  from  that  of  any  other  field 
hand,  doomed  through  life  to  the  dreary  tread- 
mill round  of  paid  farm  labor.  Struck  with 
surprise,  Godby  asked,  "What's  that  you're 
readin',  Abe?"  "I'm  not  readin',  I'm  studyin'," 
was  the  reply.  "Studyin'  what?"  "Law,"  re- 
plied Abe.  "Great  God  Almighty!"  exclaimed 
Godby. 

At  the  same  time  that  Lincoln  was  studying 


102  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

all  the  law  books  he  could  get  his  hands  on,  he 
read  all  the  papers  which  he  could  borrow,  and 
was  fully  advised  as  to  the  general  facts  of  cur- 
rent and  political  history.  He  also  gave  some 
attention  to  current  light  literature,  and  enjoyed 
with  great  relish  funny  books.  At  that  time 
Mrs.  Caroline  Lee  Hentz  was  quite  a  prolific  au- 
thor of  sensational  novels,  and  Lincoln  read 
many  of  her  works. 

In  the  spring  of  1833  John  Calhoun,  then  sur- 
veyor of  Sangamon  County,  designated  him  as 
deputy  surveyor.  Lincoln  procured  somehow  an 
outfit,  secured  needed  instruction  from  the  peda- 
gogue, Mentor  Graham,  and  entered  upon  the 
duties  of  his  office  with  zeal.  He  gave  universal 
satisfaction,  and  was  continued  in  office  by  Cal- 
houn's successor ;  in  fact,  he  held  the  office  until 
his  removal  to  Springfield. 

Many  examples  of  his  work  are  still  extant 
in  Menard  County,  where  he  was  principally  em- 
ployed, and  are  shown  with  proud  satisfaction 
by  their  owners.  Russel  Godby  employed  him 
to  do  some  surveying,  and  paid  him  two  deer- 
skins and  one  dollar  for  the  job;  Jack  Arm- 
strong's wife  Hannah  used  the  skins  to  repair 
Lincoln's  ragged  pantaloons. 

The  city  of  Petersburgh,  the  present  county- 
seat  of  Menard  County,  is  one  of  the  most  pret- 
tily situated  and  pretentious  of  the  third-rate 
towns  of  Illinois.  Lincoln  laid  it  out,  setting  the 
first  monument  at  the  southwest  corner  of  the 
public  square,  where  it  still  remains.  He  then 
turned  his  compass  southward,  but  found  in  the 
line  of  vision  a  storehouse  belonging  to  a  friend. 
Here  was  a  dilemma  of  a  kind  that  frequently 
arose  in  his  subsequent  career — the  conflict  be- 


SOLDIER,  SURVEYOR,  POSTMASTER     i°3 

tween  sympathy  and  official  duty.  Friends  ap- 
plied to  him  for  offices  they  were  unfit  to  fill, 
and  tearful  wives  and  mothers  on  bended  knees 
implored  him  to  save  their  husbands  and  sons 
from  merited  punishment.  So  here  official  duty 
required  an  accurate  survey,  consideration  for 
the  householder  a  deviation  from  it.  He  solved 
it  in  characteristic  fashion  by  an  adjustment:  he 
contrived  to  divert  his  bearings  enough  to  save 
the  storehouse  from  removal,  but  so  slightly  that 
no  succeeding  surveyor  has  called  the  survey  in 
question. 

The  founding  of  Petersburgh  was  the  down- 
fall of  New  Salem.  In  a  year  from  the  date  of 
Lincoln's  survey  the  place  began  to  grow,  and 
its  site  was  so  far  superior  to  that  of  New  Salem 
that  it  at  once  gained  all  accretions  of  population, 
and  the  latter  place  yielded  to  the  inevitable,  and 
was  very  soon  a  thoroughly  deserted  village. 
Not  a  structure  now  remains,  and  the  sites  of 
many  of  the  former  buildings  are  in  dispute. 

At  the  same  time  that  he  was  a  surveyor,  Lin- 
coln received  from  Andrew  Jackson,  President 
of  the  United  States,  the  appointment  of  Post- 
master of  New  Salem,  vice  John  McNamar,  who 
had  gone  East  for  a  year,  and  consequently  had 
•esigned  the  office.  Both  duties  and  emoluments 
were  slight.  The  mail  came  once  a  week  by 
stage,  and  the  bulk  of  it  was  distributed  within 
an  hour  after  its  arrival.  When  Lincoln  quit  the 
office,  he  owed  the  Government  a  small  balance 
which  some  obstacle  prevented  his  placing  to  the 
credit  of  the  Post-office  Department;  so  he 
wrapped  it  up  in  a  scrap  of  paper,  indicated  its 
ownership  by  a  memorandum,  and  laid  it  by. 
When  years  thereafter  an  agent  of  the  Depart- 


104  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

ment  called  on  him  for  settlement,  Lincoln  with- 
drew from  a  safe  place  this  identical  parcel,  and 
paid  it  over. 

Lincoln  had  many  residences  at  New  Salem; 
in  fact,  there  were  many  homes  always  eager  to 
welcome  him  as  an  inmate.  He  lived  at  Bowlin 
Greene's,  Jack  Armstrong's,  Rowan  Herndon's, 
and  at  the  tavern  kept  by  James  Rutledge.  Part 
of  the  time  he  slept  in  the  loft  over  a  store ;  in- 
deed for  a  time  he  slept  on  the  store  counter  of 
Offutt's  store. 

Billy  Greene  paid  off  that  part  of  Lincoln's  debt 
for  which  he  stood  as  security,  but  Van  Bergen 
brought  suit  on  the  other  part,  and  getting  judg- 
ment, sold  on  execution  everything  that  Lincoln 
had  on  earth  except  the  clothes  on  his  back.  But 
Lincoln's  friends  came  to  the  rescue,  and  by  gen- 
eral agreement  suppressed  competitive  bidding. 
One  of  them,  James  Short,  bid  in  all  the  goods, 
and  presented  them  to  Lincoln.  His  horse,  com- 
pass and  chain,  and  saddlebags  were  among  the 
effects. 

It  was  while  living  at  this  place  that  Lincoln 
first  acquired  the  sobriquet  of  "Honest"  Abe. 
As  a  judge  of  scrub  races,  or  wrestling  bouts,  or 
of  bets,  his  services  were  sought  by  all  sides,  and 
always  acquiesced  in,  with  no  heartburnings. 

He  was  then,  as  thereafter,  extremely  bashful ; 
he  avoided  waiting  on  women  at  the  store  or 
meeting  them  casually.  Once  a  family  of  ladies 
stopped  at  the  hotel  while  he  was  a  boarder  there, 
and  he  failed  to  appear  at  the  public  table  while 
they  were  there. 

He  was  very  popular  with  the  men,  and  also 
with  the  women,  such  as  Nancy  Greene  and  Han- 
nah Armstrong,  by  whom  he  was  made  to  feel 


'SOLDIER,  SURVEYOR,  POSTMASTER     105 

"at  home."  His  story-telling,  mimicry,  and  over- 
flowing goodness  were  all  felt  and  appreciated. 
Whenever  he  chose  to  let  himself  out  on  pleasan- 
tries, he  drew  a  crowd ;  and  if  he  chanced  to  shift 
his  seat,  the  crowd  followed  him.  His  drolleries 
were  repeated  at  every  gathering  and  at  every 
fireside,  and  he  was  universally  commended  in 
terms  of  unstinted  praise. 

Another  Legislature  was  to  be  chosen  in  the 
fall  of  1834,  and  Lincoln  was  elected  by  a  hand- 
some majority.  Duly  impressed  with  the  impor- 
tance of  his  representative  character,  he  borrowed 
two  hundred  dollars  of  one  Coleman  Smoot  in 
order  to  buy  his  first  decent  outfit  in  which  to 
respectably  appear  at  Vandalia,  in  a  Legislature 
which  was  a  mosaic  of  Federal  aristocracy  and 
backwoods  democracy.  He  made  his  "touch"  in 
characteristic  fashion :  "Smoot,  you  voted  for 
me  to  represent  you  at  Vandalia,  and  so  made 
yourself  responsible  that  I  shall  do  so  creditably." 

While  Lincoln  was  not  admitted  to  the  bar  till 
March,  1837,  he  yet  practised,  informally,  at 
New  Salem  while  he  was  still  a  student.  His 
friend  Bowlin  Greene  was  a  Justice  of  the  Peace, 
and  Edmond  Grier,  the  schoolmaster,  officiated 
also  as  a  Justice.  Lincoln  not  only  "pettifogged" 
cases  before  them,  but  did  sundry  office  work, 
such  as  drafting  deeds,  wills,  contracts,  etc.  In 
everything  he  undertook,  he  gave  satisfaction. 
Lincoln  failed  nowhere  and  in  nothing ;  he  was  a 
genius  of  affairs,  and,  commencing  at  the  lowest 
round  of  the  ladder,  he  reached  the  top  round 
without  a  misstep  or  misadventure  of  any  kind. 

Lincoln's  religious  views  were  not  very  clear 
or  well  settled  at  this  time.  He  believed  in  fatal- 
ism, and  that  we  were  impelled  along  in  the  jour- 


io6  tlNCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

ney  of  life  with  no  freedom  of  the  moral  will. 
Owing  to  a  line  of  remark  he  was  once  indulging 
in,  Mrs.  Samuel  Hill  said :  "You  surely  don't 
mean  that  there's  not  to  be  an  hereafter?"  "I'm 
afeered  there  ain't,"  was  the  reply;  "but  it's  an 
awful  thing  to  think  that  when  we  die,  that's  the 
end  of  us."  He  wrote  a  small  monograph  on  his 
religious  views  which  he  read  to  several  people, 
including  Samuel  Hill.  Hill  urged  him  to  aban- 
don such  extreme  heterodoxy,  assuring  him  that 
he  had  a  brilliant  and  useful  public  career  before 
him,  which  an  indulgence  in  such  views  would 
tend  to  cloud.  Finally,  taking  the  book,  Hill 
thrust  it  into  the  fire,  where  it  was  consumed. 
Lincoln  lived  to  change  his  religious  views  radi- 
cally, as  I  shall  show,  but  being  brought  up  on  the 
frontier,  with  little  religious  training,  and  with 
the  uninspiring  example  of  Thomas  Lincoln  as  a 
church  member  constantly  before  him,  and  hav- 
ing no  ingrained  element  of  inspiring  faith  in 
his  nature,  it  is  little  wonder  that  in  his  callow 
youth  his  views  on  religion  were  loose  and 
superficial. 


-  CHAPTER  VI 

Lincoln's  early  love  romance 

However,  Abraham  Lincoln  had  his  share  of 
natural  human  passion,  if  not  of  religious  senti- 
ment. One  of  the  great  psychic  crises  of  his  ca- 
reer was  his  tragic  love  affair  with  Miss  Ann 
Mays  Rutledge.  This  young  lady  was  one  of  the 
children  of  James  Rutledge,  one  of  the  founders 
of  New  Salem.  Ann  was  in  her  sixteenth  year 
when  the  Rutledges  came  to  New  Salem  in  1828 
or  1829.  She  was  very  handsome :  tall,  symmet- 
rical, inclined  to  plumpness,  with  fair  complexion, 
rosy  cheeks,  and  dark  auburn  hair.  Her  manners 
were  graceful,  and  she  was  self-possessed,  had 
an  excellent  address,  was  courteous  and  digni- 
fied, and,  though  raised  chiefly  on  the  frontier, 
had  the  ambition,  deportment,  and  bearing  of  a 
well-bred  lady.  She  was  a  dashing  and  fearless 
rider,  making  a  striking  appearance  on  horse- 
back, which  was  her  favorite  mode  of  locomotion 
in  her  journeys  throughout  the  neighborhood. 
Her  beautiful  character  and  winning  ways  en- 
deared her  to  young  and  old.  As  may  be  in- 
ferred, she  smote  the  hearts  and  engaged  the  sus- 
ceptibilities of  all  the  marriageable  youth  of  the 
settlement,  among  whom  were  Samuel  Hill  and 
John  McNeil,  partners  in  trade,  and  the  leading 
merchants  of  New  Salem.  She  capitulated  to 
McNeil's  attentions,  and  they  became  betrothed 

107 


108  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

in  1833.  This  young  man  had  migrated  from 
New  York  State  in  1829,  and  by  good  manage- 
ment and  shrewd  business  methods  had  acquired 
a  farm  and  a  handsome  sum  of  money  for  those 
primitive  days. 

Just  after  his  betrothal,  however,  his  father 
died,  making  it  necessary  that  he  should  return 
to  his  childhood's  home  and  settle  the  estate. 
This,  he  supposed,  would  consume  a  year,  and, 
promising  to  return  at  the  expiration  of  this  pe- 
riod, he  took  leave  of  his  fiancee  and  went,  after 
the  manner  of  those  days,  on  horseback  to  New 
York.  A  sad  domestic  calamity  befalling  his 
family,  one  incident  of  which  was  a  lawsuit  which 
was  greatly  delayed,  extended  his  Eastern  so- 
journ. The  time  elapsed  for  his  return,  and  he 
still  remained  absent,  and,  moreover,  gave  no  sat- 
isfactory excuse  for  his  prolonged  absence.  This 
of  itself  caused  uneasiness  on  the  part  of  Ann 
and  her  family,  which  reached  a  climax  when  a 
report  became  current  in  the  neighborhood  that 
a  local  blight  had  fallen  upon  the  family  at  home, 
and  that  the  object  of  her  affection  himself  had 
lived  at  New  Salem  and  pledged  himself  in  be- 
trothal under  an  assumed  name. 

Now  pride  of  name  was  a  characteristic  of  the 
Rutledges.  They  were  descended  from  the  re- 
nowned family  of  that  name  in  South  Carolina 
which  had  included  a  signer  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  a  nominated  Chief  Justice  of 
the  United  States,  Congressmen,  etc. 

The  existence  of  these  rumors  filled  the  souls 
of  the  Rutledges  with  consternation,  for  it 
seemed  apparent  to  them  that  the  alias  was  em- 
ployed as  a  shield  for  some  dark  and  indelible 
disgrace.      Ann  avowed  that  she  would  never 


'LINCOLN'S  EARLY  LOVE  ROMANCE     109 

give  the  report  credence  till  she  received  it  from 
the  inculpated  party  himself.  This  opportunity- 
was  not  long-  wanting,  for  it  had  happened  that 
McNeil  had  bought  a  tract  of  land  of  her  uncle 
Cameron  just  before  he  left,  and  had  himself 
signed  the  deed.  It  was  supposed,  and,  as  the 
sequel  proved,  properly, that  McNeil  would  insert 
his  correct  name  in  the  deed,  inasmuch  as  he  de- 
sired to  trade  off  this  land  at  his  Eastern  home. 

The  matter  was  discussed  at  a  family  council, 
and  it  was  proposed  to  ascertain  from  the  records 
at  Springfield  in  what  name  McNeil  had  taken 
the  title  to  this  land.  Ann  insisted  on  forming 
one  of  the  party  of  inspection,  averring  with 
firmness  and  emphasis  that  she  would  not  believe 
the  perfidy  and  disgrace  of  her  affianced  lover 
upon  any  less  indubitable  evidence  than  that  of 
her  own  senses.  Accompanied  by  her  brother 
David  (then  a  law  student)  and  her  uncle  Cam- 
eron, she  rode  on  horseback  to  Springfield,  where 
they  found  that  Ann's  lover  had  signed  the  name 
McNamar  to  the  deed — proof  positive  that  he 
had  wooed,  won,  and  plighted  his  troth  to  her 
under  the  felon's  artifice  of  an  alias. 

Arrived  at  home,  Miss  Rutledge  promptly 
wrote  her  recreant  lover  an  account  of  his  ap- 
parent infamy,  and  demanded  an  instant  expla- 
nation. In  due  time  an  answer  came,  stating 
nonchalantly  that  he  would  explain  fully  when 
he  saw  her.  She  then  wrote  a  curt  note,  abruptly 
dismissing  him. 

McNamar,  however,  affected  to  believe  that 
she  spoke  in  a  Pickwickian  sense,  for  he  con- 
tinued to  regard  himself  as  her  affianced ;  and 
started  West  with  his  mother,  brother,  and  sis- 
ters.   For  some  reason,  not  plainly  apparent,  he 


no  'LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

stopped  in  Ohio,  rented  a  farm,  and  remained 
for  a  year.  Then,  in  1835,  he  wrote  to  Ann  that 
he  should  buy  furniture  in  Cincinnati,  and  be 
there  soon  after  his  letter  was,  to  claim  her  in 
marriage,  and  settle  down  to  housekeeping. 
This  letter,  however,  was  never  read  by  her  for 
whom  it  was  intended,  for  the  eyes  which  should 
have  read  it  were  by  this  time  sealed  in  death. 
Sure  enough,  in  November,  1835,  McNamar,  his 
family,  and  furniture,  reached  New  Salem,  there 
to  learn  the  startling  news  that  his  misconduct 
had  hastened  the  death  of  her  with  whose  virgin 
affections  he  had  cruelly  and  inexcusably  trifled. 
The  wagon  was  unladen,  and  the  bedroom  set, 
which  was  to  have  graced  the  nuptials  of  the 
young  couple,  stood  out  of  doors  in  the  weather, 
through  the  rigors  of  the  early  winter. 

The  disgrace  of  betrothal  to  a  man  who  posed 
under  the  baleful  shadow  of  an  alias,  and  de- 
clined to  explain  to  her  who  had  a  right  to  de- 
mand it,  had  told  upon  the  proud  and  supersen- 
sitive nature  of  this  ambitious  and  spirited  girl, 
and  a  settled  melancholy  took  possession  of  her 
nature. 

Lincoln,  like  the  rest,  was  not  insensible  to  the 
beauty,  charms,  and  merit  of  this  most  estimable 
girl,  whom,  of  course,  he  had  seen  often  and 
whose  relations  to  McNamar  he  had  known  and 
respected ;  and  when  she  had  dismissed  her  re- 
creant lover,  Lincoln  mustered  up  courage  to  ad- 
dress her  in  terms  of  sympathy  and  endearment, 
and  finally  to  propose  marriage  to  her.  This  pro- 
posal the  young  lady  was  certainly  free  to  accept 
if  she  chose,  yet  she  desired  first  to  receive  a 
ratification  of  her  dismissal  of  McNamar,  before 
she  made  any  new  engagement.     This  ratifica- 


LINCOLN'S  EARLY  LOVE  ROMANCE     Iir 

tion,  however,  never  came;  McNamar  had  her 
promise  and  meant  to  hold  her  to  it.  She  finally, 
however,  on  the  advice  of  her  friends,  disdained 
longer  to  be  technically  bound  to  a  man  who  had 
deceived  her,  and  she  became  the  affianced  of 
Lincoln.  The  family  had  meanwhile  left  New 
Salem  and  then  resided  at  Concord,  several  miles 
north,  and  it  was  arranged  between  them  that 
Lincoln  should  study  law  during  the  succeeding 
fall  and  winter  at  Springfield,  while  Ann  should 
attend  the  Seminary  at  Jacksonville  for  the  same 
time,  and  that  in  the  spring  the  marriage  should 
take  place,  and  the  twain  should  reside  at 
Springfield. 

But  on  the  twelfth  day  of  August,  she  took  to 
her  bed  with  a  raging  brain-fever,  largely  in- 
duced by  the  mental  anguish  of  engaging  herself 
to  a  polynomial  lover,  who  had  so  sullied  his 
real  name  as  to  render  a  disguise  necessary,  and 
then,  while  not  yet  released  by  him  from  her  en- 
gagement, of  affiancing  herself  to  another.  Her 
illness  caused  serious  alarm  to  her  physician  and 
the  members  of  her  family.  Lincoln  and  her 
brother  David,  who  was  attending  school  at  Jack- 
sonville, were  at  once  sent  for.  When  Lincoln 
entered  her  room,  she  urgently  requested  to  be 
left  alone  with  him  for  a  short  time,  which  re- 
quest was  allowed.  After  the  lapse  of  a  half- 
hour,  Lincoln  came  out  of  the  bedchamber,  be- 
traying signs  of  extreme  and  pitiable  grief.  Her 
brother  came  later,  but  she  did  not  recognize  him. 
She  died  on  August  25,  1835,  of  brain-fever. 

The  remains  of  this  unfortunate  girl  were  con- 
signed to  their  mother  earth  in  Concord  burial 
ground,  and  should  have  been  suffered  to  remain 
there  till  aroused  and  animated  by  the  Angel  of 


"2  'LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

the  Resurrection,  but  it  was  not  to  be  so.  Re- 
cently an  enterprising  undertaker  who  desired  to 
advertise  his  cemetery  at  Petersburgh,  with  the 
assent  of  the  scattered  and  few  members  of  the 
family  then  living,  invaded  the  sanctity  of  the 
grave,  and,  gathering  together  the  mouldering 
bones,  the  buttons  of  her  shroud  and  a  few  rusty 
nails  of  her  coffin,  carted  them  off  in  triumph  to 
Oakland  Cemetery  near  Petersburgh,  and  there 
reinterred  them,  where  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  no 
dime  museum  proprietor  or  other  enterprising 
ghoul  will  bid  high  enough  to  have  them  again 
exhumed  for  further  speculation. 

Lincoln  was  completely  prostrated  and  un- 
nerved by  the  death  of  his  fiancee.  He  took  it 
so  deeply  to  heart  that  the  universal  pity  which 
had  animated  all  breasts  for  the  "loved  and  lost" 
was  transferred  to  him.  His  friends  condoled 
with  him, and  tried, by  every  mode,  to  mitigate  his 
sorrow.  "Bear  it  like  a  man,"  said  one.  "I'll  try," 
said  he,  "but  I  must  first  feel  it  like  a  man."  His 
grief  did  not  abate,  and  it  was  feared  that  he 
would  be  bereft  of  his  reason.  When  storms 
would  come,  he  would  grow  nervous  and  almost 
frantic.  "The  rains  shan't  beat  on  my  darling's 
grave,"  said  he  passionately  and  piteously.  He 
would  steal  away  to  the  little  graveyard,  and  sit 
and  commune  with  the  dead  for  hours.  His 
friends  deemed  it  unsafe  to  leave  him  alone,  and, 
by  strategy,  induced  him  to  stay  at  his  old  friend 
Bowlin  Greene's  till  time  and  reflection  should 
assuage  his  grief.  The  device  measurably  suc- 
ceeded ;  he  grew  less  excitable  and  less  pas- 
sionate in  his  grief,  and  settled  down  to  a 
chronic  condition  of  apparently  hopeless  despair. 
He  would  sit  by  himself  in  solitude,  apparently 


'LINCOLN'S  EARLY  LOVE  ROMANCE     "3 

dominated  by  his  grief,  a  habit  he  exhibited  at  in- 
tervals through  life.  He  would  wander  off  alone 
with  no  apparent  aim  or  object,  and  would  occa- 
sionally break  out  in  meaningless  soliloquy — 
a  habit  which  never  left  him,  and  of  which  I  fur- 
nish examples  in  my  "Life  on  the  Circuit  with 
Lincoln." 

Dr.  Duncan  of  New  Salem  came  across  a  poem 
in  an  almanac,  which  he  repeated  to  Lincoln  by 
way  of  solace  to  his  wounded  spirit,  and  the  lat- 
ter by  his  adoption  of  it  as  his  favorite  poem, 
conferred  upon  it  the  spirit  and  essence,  as  it 
had  before  the  name,  of  "Immortality." 

It  reads  thus : 

Oh!  why  should  the  spirit  of  mortal  be  proud? 
Like  a  swift,  fleeting  meteor— a  fast-flying  cloud— 
A  flash  of  the  lightning— a  break  of  the  wave — 
He  passeth  from  life  to  his  rest  in  the  grave. 

The  leaves  of  the  oak  and  the  willow  shall  fade, 
Be  scattered  around,  and  together  be  laid; 
And  the  young,  and  the  old,  and  the  low,  and  the  high. 
Shall  moulder  to  dust  and  together  shall  lie. 

The  infant,  a  mother  attended  and  loved; 
The  mother,  that  infant's  affection  who  proved ; 
The  father,  that  mother  and  infant  who  blest — 
Each,  all,  are  away  to  their  dwellings  of  rest. 

The  maid  on  whose  brow,  on  whose  cheek,  in  whose  eye, 
Shone  beauty  and  pleasure — her  triumphs  are  by; 
And  alike  from  the  minds  of  the  living  erased 
Are  the  memories  of  those  who  loved  her  and  praised. 

The  hand  of  the  king,  that  the  sceptre  hath  borne, 
The  brow  of  the  priest,  that  the  mitre  hath  worn, 
The  eye  of  the  sage,  and  the  heart  of  the  brave, 
Are  hidden  and  lost  in  the  depths  of  the  grave. 


H4  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

The  peasant,  whose  lot  was  to  sow  and  to  reap ; 
The  herdsman,  who  climbed  with  his  goats  up  the  steep; 
The  beggar,  who  wandered  in  search  of  his  bread; 
Have  faded  away  like  the  grass  that  we  tread. 

The  saint,  who  enjoyed  the  communion  of  heaven; 
The  sinner,  who  dared  to  remain  unforgiven; 
The  wise  and  the  foolish,  the  guilty  and  just, 
Have  quietly  mingled  their  bones  in  the  dust. 

So  the  multitude  goes,  like  the  flower  or  weed, 
That  withers  away  to  let  others  succeed; 
So  the  multitude  comes,  even  those  we  behold, 
To  repeat  every  tale  that  has  often  been  told. 

For  we  are  the  same  our  fathers  have  been ; 
We  see  the  same  sights  our  fathers  have  seen; 
We  drink  the  same  stream,  we  view  the  same  sun, 
And  run  the  same  course  our  fathers  have  run. 

The  thoughts  we  are  thinking  our  fathers  did  think; 
From  the  death  we  are  shrinking  our  fathers  did  shrink; 
To  the  life  we  are  clinging  our  fathers  did  cling — 
But  it  speeds  from  us  all  like  a  bird  on  the  wing. 

They  loved — but  the  story  we  cannot  unfold ; 
They  scorned — but  the  heart  of  the  haughty  is  cold ; 
They  grieved — but  no  wail  from  their  slumber  will  come; 
They  joyed — but  the  tongue  of  their  gladness  is  dumb. 

They  died — ay!  they  died — we  things  that  are  now, 
That  walk  on  the  turf  that  lies  over  their  brow, 
And  make  in  their  dwellings  a  transient  abode, 
Meet  the  things  that  they  met  on  their  pilgrimage  road. 

Yea,  hope  and  despondency,  pleasure  and  pain, 
Are  mingled  together  in  sunshine  and  rain ; 
And  the  smile  and  the  tear,  the  song  and  the  dirge, 
Still  follow  each  other,  like  surge  upon  surge. 

'Tis  the  wink  of  an  eye ;  'tis  the  draught  of  a  breath, 
From  the  blossom  of  health  to  the  paleness  of  death; 
From  the  gilded  saloon  to  the  bier  and  the  shroud — 
Oh!  why  should  the  spirit  of  mortal  be  proud? 


'LINCOLN'S  EARLY  LOVE  ROMANCE     ITS 

Lincoln  often  tried  to  find  the  name  of  the 
author  of  the  poem,  but  never  succeeded.  It  was 
William  Knox,  a  Scotchman.  Lincoln  was  wont 
to  repeat  these  verses  upon  all  occasions,  and 
especially  by  himself  when  he  supposed  no  ear 
but  his  own  heard  him.  And  on  the  occasion  of 
the  death  of  President  Taylor,  he,  being  at  Chi- 
cago, made  a  speech  at  the  celebration  of  the  ob- 
sequies, in  the  course  of  which  he  repeated  the 
poem. 

Lincoln  was  never  the  same  man  after  the 
death  of  Ann  Rutledge  that  he  was  before.  He 
never  ceased  to  mourn  and  bewail  her  loss ;  but 
he  lived  a  man's  life  thereafter,  and  carried  out 
the  plan  devised  for  him  by  destiny,  as  he  best 
could. 

About  a  mile  below  New  Salem,  on  the  crest 
of  a  hill  overlooking  the  broad  river  bottom,  and 
on  a  farm  adjacent  to  that  of  Bowlin  Greene, 
lived  Bennett  Able  and  family,  who  had  emi- 
grated there  from  Green  County,  Kentucky. 
Mrs.  Able  had  been  an  Owens,  from  Green 
County,  but  had  incurred  the  displeasure  of  her 
father  by  espousing  a  man  not  of  his  choice ;  and, 
in  point  of  fact,  she  was  superior  in  education  and 
refinement  to  her  husband.  Lincoln  was  a  wel- 
come visitor  at  the  Able  household,  and  Mrs. 
Able  had  often  remarked  that  she  was  going  to 
bring  about  a  match  between  him  and  her  sister 
Mary;  and,  in  point  of  fact,  Mary  had  visited 
her  sister  in  1833,  and  remained  a  month,  leaving 
an  excellent  impression  upon  the  minds  of  all,  as 
to  her  person  and  character.  She  returned  again 
in  November,  1836,  some  fifteen  months  after 
the  death  of  Ann  Rutledge.  She  was  about  four 
and  a  half  months  older  than  Lincoln.     While 


"6  'LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

she  was  not  so  lovely  a  character  and  did  not 
possess  so  sweet  a  disposition  as  Miss  Rutledge, 
she  yet  was  a  very  handsome  and  brilliant  girl, 
and  gifted  with  rare  talents  that  had  been  cul- 
tivated and  polished  with  a  high  and  liberal  edu- 
cation. So  far  as  she  was  concerned,  her  visit 
to  her  sister  had  no  significance  beyond  the  naked 
fact  itself,  but  it  is  not  unlikely  that  Mrs.  Able 
had  loftier  aims,  namely,  bringing  about  a  match 
with  a  man  already  entered  upon  a  promising 
political  career. 

Mrs.  Able  was  incautious  enough  to  promul- 
gate her  design  so  publicly  that  her  sister  heard 
of  it,  and  also  heard  that  Lincoln  had  said  that 
if  Mrs.  Abie's  sister  Mary  ever  came  to  New 
Salem  again,  he  would  have  to  marry  her. 
"We'll  see,"  soliloquized  the  Bluegrass  beauty; 
"it  takes  two  to  make  such  a  bargain."  Other 
beaux  stood  back,  however  (if  there  were  any), 
and  Lincoln  had  full  swing,  and  the  courtship, 
such  as  it  was,  progressed  at  cross-purposes.  In 
the  first  place,  despite  Lincoln's  public  career,  he 
was  a  timid  and  bashful  man,  especially  as  re- 
gards the  gentler  sex;  then  he  was  conscious  of 
the  wide  disparity  of  culture  and  style  between 
Miss  Owens  and  himself ;  likewise  of  the  extreme 
contrasts  between  her  beauty  and  grace  and  his 
plainness  and  angularity.  His  wealth  of  talent 
he  gave  no  credit  to  in  the  comparison ;  he  merely 
took  a  superficial  glance  at  the  account  in  which 
everything  was  phis  on  the  lady's  side,  and  minus 
on  his  side,  with  the  always  inevitable  result  that 
what  was  embarrassment  and  bashfulness  on  his 
part,  she  accepted  and  considered  as  indifference 
and  disdain.  On  the  other  hand,  what  was 
playful  reproof  on  her  part  for  his  social  delin- 


'LINCOLN'S  EARLY  LOVE  ROMANCE     "7 

quencies,  was  construed  by  him  into  pride  and 
arrogance. 

It  appears  to  me  conclusive  that  if  Lincoln  had 
dealt  with  this  estimable  and  refined  young  lady 
in  a  spirit  of  his  usual  candor  and  naturalness, 
and  had  properly  wooed  her,  there  would  have 
been  no  difficulty  in  the  way  of  a  match. 
Lincoln  felt  a  sense  of  inferiority,  for  which  the 
fair  charmer  gave  no  occasion,  and  he  only 
played  at  courting,  not  pressing  his  suit  in  the 
manly  and  dignified  way  so  characteristic  of  him 
in  other  roles. 

For  instance,  Nancy  Greene  was  carrying  a 
heavy  child  from  her  house,  up  a  steep  hill,  to 
Abie's  house,  and  was  accompanied  by  Miss 
Owens.  It  was  evident  that  Mrs.  Greene  was 
very  much  exhausted,  yet  Lincoln,  who  joined 
and  accompanied  them,  made  no  offer  of  assist- 
ance. Miss  Owens  could  not  fail  to  take  note  of 
her  gallant's  delinquency,  and  told  her  sister,  who 
repeated  it  to  Lincoln,  that  she  did  not  think  Lin- 
coln would  make  a  good  husband.  Yet  his  rea- 
son was,  as  he  informed  Greene,  who  informed 
me,  that  he  was  ashamed  to  be  seen  by  a  lady  of 
Miss  Owens's  culture  carrying  a  baby.  At  another 
time  Miss  Owens,  with  Lincoln  as  her  escort, 
went  out  riding  with  a  party.  In  crossing  a  deep 
stream,  Lincoln  forged  on  ahead,  leaving  his 
partner  to  get  on  as  she  could.  Being  reproved 
for  this,  he  told  her  she  was  smart  enough  to 
get  over  alone ;  but  the  probabilities  are  that  he 
had  embarked  upon,  and  was  lost  in  the  midst  of, 
some  reflections,  or  else  he  felt  that  his  awk- 
wardness in  attempting  to  be  gallant  to  a  cul- 
tured lady  would  be  worse  than  neglect.  How- 
ever that  may  be,  Miss  Owens,  while  holding 


nS  'LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

Lincoln  in  high  esteem,  as  every  one  did,  felt,  as 
she  said  years  later,  that  "he  was  deficient  in 
those  minor  attentions  and  little  civilities  which 
constitute  the  chain  of  a  woman's  happiness." 

Lincoln  wrote  her  some  letters  after  he  settled 
in  Springfield  as  a  lawyer,  but  they  were  of  a 
decidedly  repelling  character;  and  the  lady  took 
him  at  his  word.  As  I  have  said,  he  felt  him- 
self beneath  her  in  a  social  sense,  and  the  mis- 
takes, misunderstandings,  and  contretemps  which 
arose  from  this  anomalous  condition  of  affairs 
prevented,  in  my  judgment,  a  matrimonial  union 
which  would  have  been  congenial  and  prosper- 
ous, for  Miss  Owens  was  polished,  brilliant,  and 
amiable,  and  Lincoln  had  nearly  every  element 
to  make  a  good  husband. 

In  1839,  Lincoln  said  to  Mrs.  Able,  who  was 
returning  to  her  childhood's  home :  "Tell  your 
sister  Mary  that  I  think  she  was  a  great  fool  that 
she  didn't  remain  here  and  marry  me."  * 

While  Mr.  Lincoln's  exploits  in  his  callow 
youth  are  of  minor  interest  and  of  less  utility, 
and  certainly  not  worth  the  serious  efforts  em- 
ployed in  their  development,  it  should  also  not 
be  forgotten  that  the  communities  amid  which 
he  was  reared  were  extremely  primitive  and  un- 
couth, and  that  the  elements  of  wonder,  mystery, 
and  hyperbole  were  conspicuous,  involving 
marked  inaccuracies  in  portraying  the  idiosyn- 
crasies of  conduct  in  an  original  or  otherwise 

*  I  cannot  refrain  from  saying  that  the  letter  to  Mrs. 
Browning  by  Mr.  Lincoln  about  this  estimable  and  re- 
fined lady  should  never  have  strayed  beyond  Mrs. 
Browning's  desk.  It  was  an  unworthy  thing  for  her 
to  give  it  to  Mr.  Herndon,  and  equally  unworthy  for 
him  and  Lamon  to  give  it  to  the  world. 


'LINCOLN'S  EARLY  LOVE  ROMANCE     119 

remarkable  character.     Hence  the  frontier  nar- 
ratives of  the  embryonic  President's  character- 
istics should  not  be  too  implicitly  relied  on.    The 
stories  which  ascribe  to  him  the  persiflage  of  a 
fool  or  the  vulgarity  of  a  boor  have  no  force  of 
authority  to  me.     From  the  simplicity  of  his  ori- 
gin and  surroundings  and  the  environments  of 
his  condition,  he  was  of  necessity  rustic,  uncouth, 
and  unassimilated,  but  this  crudity  was  only  the 
rock-crystal  holding  in  place  the  pure  metal  of 
his   character,  which   shone   so  resplendently  in 
later  years.    All  that  is  needful  to  be  said  of  his 
career  during  his  life  in  Indiana  is  that  if  the 
diary  of  the  modern  Pepys  be  correct,  the  mind 
of  the  coming  man  in  its  impressionable  state, 
as  it  developed,  was  a  rank,  luxuriant  garden  of 
thought,  but  that  for  lack  of  proper  culture  it 
yielded    only    weeds    in    which    satire,  sarcasm, 
coarse  wit,  irony,  and  eccentric  pasquinades  were 
ill    assorted    with    moral    apothegms,    sage    but 
immature  reflections,  and  an  ostentatious  exhibit 
of  rustic  philosophy;  that  even  then  he  had  an 
exuberant  cacoethes  loquendi,  and  was  a  leader 
of  men  in  embryo;  that  he  was  restless,  uneasy, 
and  prone  to  adventure,  and  that  kindness,  hu- 
manity, and  philanthropy  were  essential  elements 
of  his  nature. 

His  five  years'  residence  at  New  Salem  was 
passed  under  more  favorable  external  conditions ; 
his  mental  and  moral  horizon  had  been  largely 
widened  by  two  trips  to  New  Orleans,  and,  in 
consequence,  his  character  in  this  time  begins  to 
assume  a  semblance  of  harmony  and  logical  con- 
sistency, and  to  afford  a  glimpse  of  the  psychical 
superstructure  whose  moral  architecture  was 
destined  in  after  years  to  dazzle,  astonish,  and 


120  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

bless  mankind.  His  insatiable  thirst  for  knowl- 
edge and  its  wide  range  and  desultory  charac- 
ter are  shown  in  many  ways ;  his  superlative  hon- 
esty is  exhibited  in  the  utmost  sincerity,  although 
his  unswerving  loyalty  to  friendship  trenches 
upon  its  border  lines.  His  exploits  in  the  Black 
Hawk  War  and  his  political  diplomacy  attest 
that  he  was  a  natural  leader  of  men. 

The  time  had  come  at  last  when  he  must  leave 
the  place  where  he  had  lived  for  nearly  six  years 
— where  he  had  carried  on  two  several  court- 
ships, and  where  he  had  been  evolved  from  a 
mere  adventurer  to  a  lawyer  and  a  legislator.  He 
had  served  two  terms  in  the  Legislature,  and 
had  acquired  considerable  distinction ;  he  had 
seen  the  rise,  growth,  development,  and  decay  of 
New  Salem ;  and  he  probably  foresaw  its  speedy 
downfall,  for  Petersburgh  had  been  established, 
and  was  growing  at  the  expense  of  the  earlier 
settlement ;  indeed,  the  latter  was  already  mori- 
bund. And  so,  immediately  after  the  adjourn- 
ment of  the  Legislature  in  March,  1837,  Lin- 
coln sold  his  compass,  chain,  marking-pins,  and 
Jacob's  staff;  packed  his  little  clothing  and  few 
effects  into  his  saddlebags,  borrowed  a  horse  of 
his  friend  Bowlin  Greene,  and  bade  a  final  adieu 
to  the  scene  of  so  much  of  life,  so  much  of  sor- 
row, to  him.  In  less  than  a  year  from  that  time 
New  Salem  ceased  to  exist ;  its  mission  had  been 
fulfilled ;  it  was  the  Nazareth  of  the  nineteenth 
century. 

The  Clary's  Grove  boys  that  made  the  welkin 
ring  with  sounds  of  "wine  and  wassail,"  Dunn 
the  millwright,  Onstott  the  cooper,  Mentor  Gra- 
ham the  pedagogue,  Grier  the  Justice,  Waddell 
the  hatter,  Allen  the  physician,  Radford,  Berry, 


'LINCOLN'S  EARLY  LOVE  ROMANCE     121 

Hill,  McNamar,  Richardson,  Lincho,  Warburton, 
the  Herndons,  Rogers,  Offutt,  and  Kelso,  are 
gone — all  dead.  Bowlin  Greene  died  in  1842. 
Lincoln  was  invited  by  the  Masons,  under  whose 
auspices  Greene  was  buried,  to  make  a  funeral 
address ;  he  manfully  attempted  it,  and  igno- 
miniously  failed.  His  feelings  overpowered  him 
as  the  past  rose  in  his  fancy  and  the  disinterested 
affection  of  his  departed  friend  passed  in  re- 
view ;  his  sobs  choked  his  utterance,  and  he  with- 
drew from  the  mournful  scene  to  accompany 
Mrs.  Green  to  her  desolate  home. 


CHAPTER  VII 

STATE   LEGISLATOR 

Mr.  Lincoln's  political  career  proper  may  be 
said  to  have  commenced  on  March  9,  1832,  when 
he  issued  an  address  "To  the  people  of  Sanga- 
mon County."  As  he  was  not  as  well  versed  in 
grammar  then  as  by  experience  he  afterwards 
became,  he  procured  James  McNamar  to  correct 
its  grammar — otherwise  the  production  is  en- 
tirely his  own. 

The  election  took  place  about  two  weeks  after 
his  return  to  New  Salem  from  the  Black  Hawk 
War,  and  he  was  defeated,  as  has  been  stated. 

In  1834,  Lincoln  decided  to  run  again  for  the 
Legislature.  The  highly  complimentary  vote  he 
had  received  before,  his  oratorical  reputation,  ac- 
quired in  the  prior  canvass,  his  local  popularity 
in  the  northern  end  of  the  county,  and  his  credit- 
able record  in  the  Black  Hawk  War,  constituted 
his  political  stock  in  trade.  There  were  no  con- 
ventions then ;  the  field  was  "free  for  all,"  and, 
while  there  were  combinations  among  the  candi- 
dates themselves,  the  fact  was  that  each  candi- 
date stood  or  fell  upon  his  own  merits.  Lincoln 
was  classed  as  a  Whig,  although  he  held  the  of- 
fice of  Postmaster  under  President  Jackson  and 
that  of  Deputy  Surveyor  under  Calhoun,  a  most 
ardent  Democrat.  The  canvass  was  unusually 
tame  and  spiritless  for  some  reason.    It  resulted 

122 


STATE  LEGISLATOR  123 

in  the  election  of  John  Dawson,  Lincoln,  Wil- 
liam Carpenter,  and  John  T.  Stuart. 

It  should  not  be  forgotten  that  the  Legislature 
was  a  much  more  dignified,  consequential,  and 
important  body  then  than  it  later  became,  and 
that  it  was  invested  with  much  greater  political 
power  and  social  consequence.  The  granting  of 
corporate  charters  and  other  special  legislation 
had  not  then  been  withheld  from  it,  and  it  elected 
judicial  and  other  officers. 

Vandalia,  the  capital,  put  on  its  best  holiday 
attire  when  the  Legislature  met;  and  the  beauty 
and  fashion  of  the  Illinois  communities  congre- 
gated there  to  a  large  extent.  Lobbyists  of  the 
sleekest  order  hied  them  thither  on  schemes  of 
plunder  bent ;  town  belles  flocked  in  with  their 
pantalettes,  flounces,  and  ruffles,  to  enjoy  the 
novelty  and  excitement ;  and  "Becky  Sharps"  re- 
paired thither  with  matrimonial  schemes. 

The  Legislature  was  the  culminating  point  of 
all  effort  and  all  diversion ;  the  interest  in  the  ses- 
sions was  so  great  and  abiding  as  to  endure  with- 
out diminution  throughout  the  whole  session. 
The  brilliant  modes  of  the  elite  of  Kentucky  so- 
ciety were  initiated,  and  young  lady  graduates 
from  the  Kentucky  seminaries  were  "introduced" 
into  Illinois  society  here.  Local  statesmen  af- 
fected the  lofty  airs  of  Kentucky  politics,  and 
Vandalia,  during  a  legislative  session,  was  a  re- 
flex of  Frankfort  during  a  similar  period.  The 
Yankees  had  made  no  perceptible  impression  as 
yet ;  Chicago  was  in  nubibus — even  Cook  County 
had  no  existence. 

The  Legislature  met  on  the  first  day  of  Decem- 
ber, 1834.  James  Semple,  afterwards  United 
States  Senator,  was  elected  Speaker.     Lincoln's 


124  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

first  political  act  was  to  vote  for  the  losing  com- 
petitor, Charles  Dunn.     Transportation  was  the 
great  subject  of  political  discussion  at  the  time. 
The  Acting-Governor,  in  his  message,  said : 

Of  the  different  modes  proposed  of  effecting  this  com- 
munication [intercommunication]  the  general  sentiment 
of  the  community  as  well  as  the  report  of  an  able 
engineer  and  the  experience  of  other  States  seems  to  be 
in  favor  of  a  railroad.  .  .  A  railroad  commencing  at 
the  intersecting  point  of  the  Indiana  Canal  on  the 
Illinois  River,  and  terminating  at  an  eligible  situation 
on  the  western  extremity  of  the  State,  would  pervade 
a  country  of  great  fertility  and  unequalled  adaptation 
to  its  [the  railroad's]  construction. 

The  Governor-elect  Duncan,  who  was  inau- 
gurated soon  thereafter,  took  a  different  view. 
In  his  inaugural  address  he  said : 

Of  the  different  plans  proposed  [for  intercommunica- 
tion] I  find  that  the  Board  of  Canal  Commissioners  and 
my  worthy  predecessors  have  recommended  a  railroad, 
in  which  I  regret  that  I  am  compelled  to  differ  with 
them  in  opinion.  In  my  judgment,  experience  has 
shown  canals  to  be  much  more  useful,  and  generally 
cheaper  of  construction  than  railroads. 

This  was  the  dawn  of  the  era  of  premature 
internal  improvements  which  brought  fruits 
meet  for  repentance  then,  and  whose  glorious 
fulfilment  was  postponed  for  two  decades.  The 
political  preponderance  in  the  Legislature  was 
against  Lincoln's  party,  yet,  somehow,  he  was 
placed  second  on  the  important  standing  commit- 
tee on  public  accounts  and  expenditures, — quite 
an  honor,  since,  in  those  days,  there  were  not 
nearly  so  many  standing  committees  as  now.  On 
the  fifth  day  of  the  session,  he  performed  his 
first  legislative  work,  by  giving  notice  that  on  a 


STATE  LEGISLATOR  I2S 

subsequent  day  he  would  ask  leave  to  introduce 
a  bill  to  limit  the  jurisdiction  of  justices  of  the 
peace ;  and  later,  he  offered  this  bill.  Soon  there- 
after he  gave  notice  that  he  would  present  a  bill 
"to  authorize  Samuel  Musick  to  build  a  toll- 
bridge  across  Salt  Creek."  What  became  of  his 
first  bill  seems  to  be  unknown,  but  it  never  be- 
came a  law ;  contrariwise,  a  law  was  passed  at 
that  session  to  enlarge  (rather  than  limit)  the 
powers  of  a  justice  of  the  peace,  so  his  first  at- 
tempt at  practical  legislation  proved  to  be  a  fail- 
ure. His  second  bill,  being  rather  in  the  nature 
of  a  private  act,  was  more  successful,  for  it  ma- 
tured into  a  law ;  and  "Musick's  bridge"  was  long 
one  of  the  institutions  of  Illinois. 

Lincoln  generally  voted  with  his  party,  but  his 
early  independence  appears  in  his  being  one  of 
three  to  resist  the  small  petit  larceny  of  hiring  a 
suitable  place  for  the  use  of  the  Committee  on 
Revision.  An  election  for  United  States  Senator 
to  succeed  John  M.  Robinson  resulted  in  his  re- 
election, Lincoln  voting  for  Richard  M.  Young; 
and  five  judges  were  elected  by  the  Legislature, 
viz. :  Stephen  T.  Logan,  Sidney  Breese,  Henry 
Eddy,  Justin  Harlan,  and  Thomas  Ford. 

At  the  election  for  State's  Attorney,  Stephen 
A.  Douglas  made  his  first  appearance  in  politics, 
coming  from  Jacksonville,  where  he  was  tem- 
porarily domiciled,  to  Vandalia,  to  press  his 
claims  for  that  position  in  the  First  Circuit 
against  John  J.  Hardin,  an  eminent  lawyer,  who 
was  thought  to  be  sure  of  an  election.  The  ap- 
pearance of  Douglas,  who  was  then  five  feet  and 
one  inch  high,  and  weighed  about  one  hundred 
pounds,  greatly  amused  Lincoln.  Douglas  was 
active,  adroit,  and  insinuating,  then  and  thereaf- 


126 


LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 


ter;  and  Lincoln  pronounced  him  to  be  "the  least 
man  he  ever  saw,"  little  dreaming  of  the  time 
to  come,  when  this  same  dwarf  was  to  bear 
him  on  his  shoulders  to  the  Executive  Mansion 
of  the  nation.  To  the  surprise  of  all,  the  then 
pigmy  Douglas  was  elected  over  the  then  giant 
Hardin  by  38  against  34  votes,  and  this  was  the 
commencement  of  an  illustrious  though  clouded 
political  career.  It  is  singular  that  in  the  com- 
petition for  this  office  for  the  Quincy  district, 
Lincoln  supported  Richardson,  a  Democrat, 
against  Browning,  a  Whig,  the  former  after- 
wards becoming  a  chief  ally  of  Douglas  and 
enemy  of  Lincoln,  and  the  latter  one  of  Lincoln's 
greatest  political  friends. 

Lincoln's  name  is  not  very  conspicuous  in  the 
proceedings  of  this  session,  which  adjourned  on 
February  13,  1835,  after  lasting  two  and  a  half 
months ;  but  his  career  was  satisfactory  alike 
to  his  colleagues  and  constituents.  In  the  suc- 
ceeding year  he  again  became  a  candidate,  and 
constructed  the  political  platform  upon  which  he 
proposed  to  stand. 

There  were  seven  members  to  elect  to  the 
Lower  House  and  two  to  the  Senate.  While  no 
one  was  debarred  from  becoming  a  candidate,  yet 
there  was  a  sort  of  tacit  understanding  that  each 
section  should  be  considered  in  the  list,  and  that 
the  support  of  the  candidates  of  each  party  should 
be  homogeneous  and  compact.  This  canvass  was 
as  exciting  as  the  other  had  been  tame ;  being  a 
Presidential  year,  the  spirit  of  Jackson  ani- 
mated it.  Then  there  was  a  sentiment  that  the 
capital  was  too  far  south,  and  that  it  should  be  re- 
moved ;  and  as  Springfield  was  one  of  the  com- 
peting places,  it  was  discerned  that  a  wealth  of 


STATE  LEGISLATOR  127 

political  glory  awaited  the  delegates,  if  they  could 
succeed  in  scooping  the  capital  into  the  Sanga- 
mon net. 

A  stirring  and  vigorous  campaign  followed ; 
not  only  did  political  spirit  run  high,  but  muscu- 
lar force  was  brought  into  requisition.  It  was 
an  age  of  rudeness.  Fights  were  an  inevitable 
and  ordinary  incident  of  a  political  canvass  in 
the  Jacksonian  era ;  insults  were  often  given,  and 
usually  resented.  During  the  canvass,  Colonel 
Robert  Allen,  a  Democrat,  perpetrated  some 
petty  slander  about  Lincoln  and  Ninian  W.  Ed- 
wards, to  which  Lincoln  made  a  bold  reply,  in 
which  he  said :  "If  I  have  done  anything,  either 
by  design  or  misadventure,  which  if  known 
would  subject  me  to  a  forfeiture  of  that  confi- 
dence [placed  in  me  by  my  constituents],  he  that 
knows  of  that  thing  and  conceals  it  is  a  traitor  to 
his  country's  interest." 

In  addition  to  the  usual  speeches,  the  several 
candidates  indulged  in  joint  debates,  in  which 
several  would  join.  Not  infrequently  bad  blood 
would  be  engendered.  Robert  L.  Wilson,  one  of 
the  candidates  (whom,  with  Ninian  W.  Edwards 
and  myself,  Lincoln  appointed  Paymasters  in  the 
Army),  told  me  many  incidents  of  this  celebrated 
campaign.  Among  other  things,  he  said  that 
Lincoln  was  by  common  consent  looked  up  to  and 
relied  on  as  the  leading  Whig  exponent;  that  he 
was  the  best  versed  and  most  captivating  and 
trenchant  speaker  on  their  side ;  that  he  preserved 
his  temper  nearly  always,  and  when  extremely 
provoked,  he  did  not  respond  with  the  illogical 
proposal  to  fight  about  it,  but  used  the  weapons 
of  sarcasm  and  ridicule,  and  always  prevailed. 
Ninian  W.  Edwards  and  Lincoln  seemed  to  hunt 


128  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

in  couples,  although  the  former  was  a  scion  of 
wealth  and  aristocracy,  while  the  latter  was  of 
the  poorest  of  his  class.  When  Lincoln  would 
combat  his  friend's  ridicule  with  its  kind,  and 
give  "railing  for  railing,"  Edwards  would  get 
mad,  and  propose  to  fight  it  out  then  and  there. 

George  Forquer  was  a  lawyer  of  wealth  and 
ability,  who  had  been  a  Whig,  but  had  turned 
his  coat  and  received  the  appointment  of  Reg- 
ister of  the  Land  Office.  He  had  recently  erected 
a  new  house  and  protected  it  with  a  lightning 
rod.  This  rod  was  then  a  new  device,  and  being 
the  first  one  that  Lincoln  had  seen,  engrossed  his 
attention. 

Forquer  attended  a  meeting  at  which  Lincoln 
spoke,  and,  thinking  to  ingratiate  himself  with 
his  new  allies,  jumped  up  and  asked  to  be  heard. 
This  a  crowd  in  those  days  was  always  ready  to 
accord,  and  he  replied  in  a  very  supercilious  and 
insulting  vein,  whose  haughty  prelude  was  that 
"this  young  man  [alluding  to  Lincoln]  would 
have  to  be  taken  down." 

Lincoln  was  thoroughly  roused  by  the  insolent 
and  domineering  style  employed.  The  minute 
Forquer  had  concluded,  he  arose,  animated  with 
an  excitement  unusual  to  him,  and  replied  in  a 
strain  that  surpassed  all  his  previous  oratorical 
efforts.  After  effectually  replying  to  all  of 
argument  advanced,  he  concluded  with  this  fla- 
gellation of  the  intruder :  "This  anomalous  For- 
quer, if  he  has  taken  me  down,  as  he  calls  it,  I 
reckon  you  know  it,  and  if  he  is  satisfied,  I  am. 
He  seems  to  be  thoroughly  up  to  political  tricks 
— something  I  am  not  familiar  with,  and  I  never 
intend  to  be.  If  I  can't  get  office  honestly,  I  am 
content  to  live  as  I  am,  and  I  hope  I  never  may 


STATE  LEGISLATOR  129 

be  so  thoroughly  steeped  in  political  trickery  as 
to  change  my  political  coat  for  a  big  office,  and 
then  feel  so  guilty  about  it  as  to  run  up  a  light- 
ning rod  to  protect  my  house  from  the  venge- 
ance of  an  offended  God." 

In  no  element  of  political  controversy  did  Lin- 
coln fail  during  this  canvass.  He  was,  as  there- 
after, clear  and  skilful  in  statement  and  logical 
in  discussion ;  he  generally  preserved  his  equa- 
nimity and  good  humor,  and  discomfited  his 
enemies,  but  when  it  was  apparent  that  forbear- 
ance had  ceased  to  be  a  virtue,  Lincoln  made 
points  and  gained  friends  by  the  force,  spirit,  and 
defiance  of  his  replies.  In  his  first  and  second 
canvass  he  was  bashful  and  timid,  and  confined 
himself  to  the  strictly  rural  districts ;  this  time 
he  put  away  his  maiden  reserve,  and  spoke  as  un- 
restrainedly at  Springfield  as  at  New  Salem. 
He  gained  the  approval  and  applause  of  his 
friends  and  the  respect  and  fear  of  his  enemies, 
and  became,  by  that  very  canvass,  a  leader  of 
his  party  in  Sangamon  County,  which  distinction 
he  never  lost. 

The  results  of  this  noted  canvass  were  very 
great,  and  of  prime  importance  to  Sangamon 
County.  Whereas,  it  had  theretofore  leaned 
strongly  to  the  Democracy,  it  now  gravitated 
towards  the  Whigs,  who  never  thereafter  lost 
their  prestige.  The  entire  Whig  ticket  was 
elected,  Lincoln  receiving  the  largest  vote,  and 
the  Whig  party,  which  had  been  below  par  there- 
tofore, was  on  the  mountain  heights  of  rejoicing 
then  and  thereafter  in  that  county. 

This  celebrated  Legislature  assembled  at  Van- 
dalia  on  the  fifth  day  of  December,  1836.  Among 
its  members  were  Stephen  A.  Douglas  and  John 


13°  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

J.  Hardin  from  the  same  county — one  a  leading 
Democrat,  and  the  other  a  leading  Whig — Gen- 
eral John  A.  McClernand,  Augustus  C.  French 
(afterwards  Governor),  and  Usher  F.  Linder, 
then  the  greatest  orator  in  the  State. 

The  delegation  from  Sangamon  first  engaged 
the  attention  of  the  Legislature  on  account  of 
their  size,  their  average  height  being  over  six 
feet,  and  their  average  weight  being  over  two 
hundred  pounds.  They  received  the  appellation 
of  the  Long  Nine  from  their  size  and  number. 
Their  political  force  was  soon  felt  to  be  as  strong 
and  impressive  as  their  physical  force,  for  the 
people  of  Sangamon  had  been  generous  in  the 
conferring  of  political  power,  and  their  reputa- 
tions were  pledges  not  to  be  disobedient  to  the 
trust  so  confided  to  them. 

A.  G.  Herndon,  the  father  of  William  H. 
Herndon,  the  future  law  partner  of  Lincoln,  and 
Job  Fletcher  were  the  Senators ;  and  Lincoln, 
Ninian  W.  Edwards,  John  Dawson,  Andrew  Mc- 
Cormick,  Dan  Stone,  William  F.  Elkin,  and 
Robert  L.  Wilson  were  the  members  of  the 
House.  Lincoln  was  made  a  member  of  the  im- 
portant Committee  on  Finance ;  and  both  he  and 
Douglas  were  on  the  Committee  on  the  Peniten- 
tiary. 

Douglas  led  off  the  session  by  offering  a  sweep- 
ing resolution  in  favor  of  a  broad  and  catholic 
system  of  internal  improvements,  which  was 
adopted,  inasmuch  as  the  demand  therefor  was 
as  great  at  the  hands  of  the  Whigs  as  of  the 
Democrats. 

At  the  election  for  United  States  Senator, 
which  was  had  at  that  session,  Lincoln  aban- 
doned Richard  M.  Young,  whom  he  had  voted 


STATE  LEGISLATOR  131 

for  before  (and  who  was  elected  this  time),  and 
voted  with  a  few  others  for  Archibald  Williams, 
the  same  whom  he  appointed  District  Judge  of 
Kansas  as  his  first  appointment  after  that  of  his 
Cabinet  in  1861. 

The  most  important  measure  to  the  Sangamon 
delegation  was  the  removal  of  the  capital.  There 
were  several  competitors  for  it,  of  which  Spring- 
field was  really  one  of  the  least  meritorious. 
Peoria,  Jacksonville,  and  Alton  were  places  of 
sufficient  consequence  properly  to  aspire  to  this 
great  honor.  Decatur  and  Springfield,  the  other 
two  aspirants,  had  no  merit  save  that  of  central- 
ity ;  they  were  inconsequential  villages,  approach- 
able during  the  legislative  season  by  roads 
almost  impassable  by  reason  of  mud.  The  geo- 
graphical centre  of  the  State,  called  Illiopolis,  a 
place  between  Springfield  and  Decatur,  was  a 
competitor.*  On  account  of  its  consequence  and 
accessibility,  Peoria  should  have  been  selected. 
In  this  contest,  Lincoln  was  the  leader  and  ad- 
vocate, and  the  Long  Nine  surrendered  the 
scheme  to  his  management,  almost  entirely. 
Their  power  and  efficiency  of  management  soon 
drew  all  attention,  and  concentrated  all  the  oppo- 
sition against  them;  it  was  the  field  against 
Springfield.  Wilson  and  Henry  L.  Webb  have 
narrated  to  me  many  incidents  of  that  apparently 
hopeless  and  unequal  struggle.  Upon  several  oc- 
casions their  opponents  deemed  that  they  had  cir- 
cumvented the  movement,  and  incautious  ones 
crowed  lustily  over  the  supposed  defeat  and  dis- 

*  Illiopolis  was  in  the  extreme  eastern  part  of  San- 
gamon County,  but  considerably  nearer  to  Decatur  than 
to  Springfield.  It  had  no  buildings  then.  It  was  only  a 
geographical  point  on  the  map, 


I32  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

comfiture  of  Lincoln  and  his  colleagues.  The 
pessimists  of  the  Sangamon  delegation  supposed 
that  the  measure  was  lost,  but  Lincoln  was  te- 
nacious and  resolute.  He  would  make  a  flank 
and  unexpected  movement  which  would  revive 
their  chances.  The  final  result  was  that,  under 
his  adroit  leadership,  the  bill  was  carried,  al- 
though the  only  political  strength  in  its  favor  at 
the  start  was  seven  votes  in  one  house  and  two 
in  the  other,  with  no  natural  allies,  and  several 
delegations  of  active  enemies  [see  page  145] .  This 
was  felt  to  be  one  of  the  greatest  of  political 
triumphs,  and  its  credit  was  freely  ascribed  to 
Lincoln.  Wilson,  one  of  the  delegates,  assured 
me  that  had  Lincoln  not  been  there,  it  would  have 
failed.  In  one  sense,  it  may  be  said  to  have  been 
a  triumph  over  his  later  adversary  on  a  larger 
field,  Douglas,  for  Douglas's  town,  Jacksonville, 
was  one  of  the  leading  competitors. 

The  most  important  general  matter  which  en- 
grossed the  attention  of  the  Legislature  was  a 
broad  and  extended  system  of  internal  improve- 
ments, and  in  this,  Lincoln  was  as  enthusiastic 
as  in  the  removal  of  the  capital.  The  railroad 
had  become  an  institution  in  New  England,  and 
it  was  even  then  prefigured  as  the  great  high- 
way of  intercommunication ;  the  canal  had  been, 
and  then  was,  the  Appian  Way  of  commerce,  but 
its  construction  was  limited  to  level  plains,  and 
hampered  by  sundry  other  conditions  which 
barred  it  out  as  the  common  carrier  of  civ- 
ilization. 

The  magnificent  system  of  internal  improve- 
ments which  this  Legislature  evolved  from  the 
nebula  of  desire  and  necessity,  would  have  been 
all  right  if  the  State  could  have  afforded  it,  or 


STATE  LEGISLATOR  *33 

if  the  hoped-for  development  had  been  a  well- 
founded  pledge  and  promise  of  enough  taxes  to 
pay  the  interest  on  bonds  promptly  and  surely; 
but,  unfortunately,  no  such  conditions  existed, 
and  this  really  able  Legislature  was  in  the  condi- 
tion of  a  visionary  but  hopeful  man,  entering 
into  enlarged  business  enterprises,  with  roseate 
hopes  and  brilliant  anticipations  for  his  sole  cap- 
ital. However,  then  as  always  in  a  farming 
community,  the  ordinary  tax-list  was  the  great- 
est burden  to  be  borne,  and  to  have  carried  into 
effect  the  grand  schemes  which  were  here  pro- 
posed by  law  and  on  paper,  would  have  bank- 
rupted nine  men  out  of  ten  in  the  whole  State, 
so  the  inevitable  and  necessary  result  was  that, 
after  expending  millions,  the  whole  scheme  was 
hopelessly  abandoned,  with  very  little  substantial 
benefit.  In  point  of  fact,  I  happen  to  remember 
that  as  late  as  1884,  a  railway  was  built  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  State  partly  upon  a  grade 
made  at  the  expense  of  the  State  nearly  a  half 
century  before.  That  no  voice  should  have  been 
raised  in  condemnation  of  such  extravagant  leg- 
islation, whose  evil  effects  were  so  palpable  in  a 
few  years  thereafter,  seems  now  strange  to  us ; 
but  so  it  was  that  the  general  acclaim  of  the  peo- 
ple was  vocal  for  intercommunication,  and  legis- 
lators could  not  resist  it  if  they  would. 

The  soil  of  Illinois  was  of  that  character  of 
rich  loam  that,  while  of  the  very  best  to  yield 
luxurious  crops,  it  yet  was  a  bar  to  good,  or  even 
tolerable,  roads  in  the  fall,  winter,  and  spring 
times  of  the  year.  In  the  southeastern,  western, 
and  southwestern  parts  of  the  States  were  navi- 
gable rivers.  The  Illinois  was  available  as  far 
as  La  Salle,  the  Wabash  as  far  as  Lafayette  in 


»34  'LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

Indiana,  and  Lake  Michigan  touched  the  north- 
west; there  was  likewise  a  waterway  for  lead 
ore  in  the  Fevre  River  to  the  Mississippi ;  and 
the  canal  from  Lafayette  to  Covington  in  In- 
diana furnished  an  outlet  for  a  small  scope  of 
country  on  the  eastern  border;  but  most  of  the 
State  was  without  any  means  of  communication 
save  the  "mud-wagon"  for  passengers,  and  the 
ordinary  farm  team  for  produce.  Many  com- 
munities had  to  go  a  hundred  miles  to  haul  farm 
produce :  corn,  oats,  wheat,  and  hay.  So  the  ne- 
cessity for  internal  improvements  was  imperious, 
and  the  people,  discarding  those  practical  and 
businesslike  considerations  which  guided  them  in 
ordinary  business  affairs,  somehow  deemed  leg- 
islation as  a  magical  mode  of  bringing  things 
to  pass  which  could  not  be  achieved  by  ordinary 
business  processes.  They  seemed  to  think  that 
when  the  legislative  body  solemnly  proclaimed 
"Be  it  enacted,"  the  improvement  was  already 
made,  and  in  this  flimsy  delusion  the  leg- 
islators affected  to  share.  The  Long  Nine  were 
instructed  on  the  subject  by  their  constituents; 
they  were  ordered  to  advocate  a  general  system 
of  internal  improvements ;  and  to  brace  up  the 
lawmakers  a  mass  convention  was  held  at  the 
capital,  which  resolved  that  the  Legislature 
should  provide  for  a  system  which  should  be  com- 
mensurate with  the  desires  of  the  people. 

Every  locality  had  its  scheme.  Chicago  de- 
sired then,  as  constantly  thereafter,  and  properly, 
a  canal  to  connect  the  waters  of  the  Lake  with 
those  of  the  Illinois  River ;  all  possibly  available 
rivers  were  to  be  improved,  as  "highways  of  com- 
merce," and  in  this  branch  of  internal  improve- 
ment, Lincoln  was  an  enthusiast,  for  always  since 


STATE  LEGISLATOR  »35 

his  flatboat  experience  with  Offutt,  he  had  ar- 
dently believed  even  in  the  adaptation  of  the 
Sangamon  to  purposes  of  navigation  as  far  up 
as  Springfield. 

Wherever  waterways  were  theoretically  possi- 
ble, a  demand  arose  for  the  necessary  appropria- 
tion to  make  them  available,  and  when  there  was 
no  potentially  navigable  stream,  railways  were 
demanded ;  that  there  was  no  money  in  the  treas- 
ury, or  surplus  wealth  in  the  State,  or  proper 
bases  for  taxation  did  not  seem  to  disturb  or 
check  these  rustic  Solons  in  the  least.  They  de- 
veloped and  matured  their  schemes  of  traffic  con- 
quest as  if  they  had  the  means  in  hand  to  enforce 
their  legislation,  and  the  only  attempt  to  provide 
the  sinews  of  war  lay  in  a  bill  which  passed,  with 
no  considerable  opposition,  to  provide  a  loan  of 
twelve  millions  (an  enormous  sum  for  those 
days)  to  carry  their  schemes  into  effect.  In  the 
enforcement  of  these  measures  of  legislation, 
Abraham  Lincoln  and  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  the 
two  greatest  men  of  Illinois,  worked  in  perfect 
amity,  accord,  and  enthusiasm. 

It  is  a  singular  idiosyncrasy  of  dialectics  that 
statesmen  of  broad  gauge  as  well  as  dolts  therein, 
alike  consider  themselves  to  be  capable  of  con- 
structing correct  financial  theories  and  enforc- 
ing them  in  practice ;  while  the  fact  is,  that  the 
science  of  finance  is  single,  distinct,  and  recon- 
dite, and  its  correct  study  and  proper  practice 
are  inharmonious  with  the  study  of  general  and 
enlarged  statesmanship.  In  proof  of  this  adage, 
is  to  be  noted  the  fact  that  many  of  our  great- 
est statesmen  have  not  exhibited  sufficient  ability 
to  manage  even  their  own  private  finances  with 
success  or  skill,  while  the  masters  of  finance  are 


136  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

most  generally  the  most  narrow  gauge  order  of 
men  elsewhere. 

Daniel  Webster  and  Henry  Clay  were  always 
the  necessary  recipients  of  financial  assistance  at 
the  hands  of  their  friends ;  Stephen  A.  Douglas 
was  a  bold  investor  and,  though  living  in  an  era 
of  great  rises  in  values,  was  always  hopelessly 
in  debt ;  Lincoln  was  prudent,  and  yet  when 
elected  President  at  fifty-two  years  of  age  had 
but  ten  thousand  dollars;  and  similar  conditions 
may  be  attributed  to  many  others — indeed,  our 
millionaire  statesmen,  as  a  rule,  have  little  else 
but  their  millions,  and  successes  acquired  by  the 
momentum  of  piles  of  gold,  to  save  them  from 
utter  and  abject  scorn. 

While  Illinois  Solons  in  1836  and  1837  were 
voting  millions  for  internal  improvements  every 
year,  thousands  of  farms  were  being  sold  and 
forfeited  for  delinquent  taxes.  Finally,  retribu- 
tion came ;  and  the  whole  airy  fabric  collapsed 
and  brought  immediate,  though  reparable,  dis- 
aster, and  came  near  causing  repudiation,  which 
would  have  been  an  irreparable  calamity.  But 
while  the  measures  were  being  matured,  the 
sword  of  Damocles  was  not  visible,  nor  yet  did 
the  shadow  of  an  avenging  Nemesis  darken  the 
legislative  halls.  All  was  bright  and  beautiful. 
Capitalists  were  rushing  in  with  money  to  buy 
bonds,  and  immigrants  were  swelling  the  roll  of 
tax-payers,  and  Illinois  promised  to  supplant 
New  York  as  the  Empire  State. 

Never  was  Lincoln  more  earnest,  enthusiastic, 
or  hopeful  than  in  the  advocacy  of  these  meas- 
ures ;  as  he  had  never  seen  more  than  a  hundred 
dollars  or  so  in  one  lot,  and  had  no  financial 
negotiation  of  greater  magnitude  than  his  part- 


STATE  LEGISLATOR  *37 

nership  transaction  with  Berry,  he  knew  compar- 
atively nothing  of  finance.  While  he  could  for- 
mulate schemes  for  expending  the  public  money, 
he  had  no  idea  of  the  conservative  qualities 
needed  to  complete  the  process  and  secure  a  logi- 
cal balancing  of  accounts  at  the  end.  His  ambi- 
tion, in  view  of  the  future  of  history,  took  a 
strange  direction,  and  had  no  legitimate  basis ; 
he  had  read  of  the  glorious  "Erie  Canal"  system 
and  the  lustre  conferred  upon  its  founder,  and  he 
confidentially  avowed  to  his  friend  Speed  his 
ambition  to  become  the  "De  Witt  Clinton"  of 
Illinois.  Instead,  he  came  nearer,  however,  to 
being  its  John  Law ;  at  least  the  enterprises  in 
which  he  courted  distinction  ended  almost  as  dis- 
astrously as  the  "Mississippi  bubble." 

Lincoln  was  on  the  important  Committee  on 
Finance,  in  which  were  matured  these  magnifi- 
cent schemes  of  internal  improvement;  and  both 
Lincoln  and  Douglas  were  brought,  in  a  legisla- 
tive sense,  face  to  face  by  service  on  the  Com- 
mittee on  the  Penitentiary.  In  pursuance  of  their 
official  duties,  it  was  necessary  for  them  to  visit 
the  institution  at  Alton,  then  about  sixty  miles 
distant ;  and  we  can  imagine  this  committee,  one 
of  whose  members  was  six  feet  four  inches  in 
height  and  the  other  five  feet  and  one  inch,  en 
route  in  the  stage  thither  and  return,  entertain- 
ing each  other,  to  while  away  the  tedium  of  the 
journey. 

During  the  session,  a  motion  was  made  to  ex- 
press the  thanks  of  the  Legislature  to  President 
Jackson  for  the  firm,  consistent,  independent,  and 
able  manner  in  which  he  had  performed  his  du- 
ties, and  to  tender  its  best  wishes  to  him  on  his 
retirement  from  office.    Jesse  K.  Dubois  moved 


13 8  'LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

to  amend  by  inserting  the  prefix  "in"  before  con- 
sistent. This  was  rejected.  Lincoln  moved  to 
divide  the  proposition,  which  was  done ;  and  he 
himself  voted  "nay"  to  the  first  branch  and  "aye" 
to  the  second  branch.  Both  branches  of  the  mo- 
tion were  carried. 

It  is  noticeable  that  an  election  took  place  at 
this  session  for  a  Judge  at  Chicago  (I  suppose  of 
the  Common  Pleas  Court),  at  which  Thomas 
Ford  was  elected,  and  Browning  and  Lincoln 
were  the  tellers. 

The  session  ended  on  March  6,  1837,  and  the 
"Long  Nine"  mounted  their  horses  and  started 
for  home,  except  Lincoln,  who  had  no  horse  to 
mount,  and  hence  went  by  means  of  "Shanks' 
mare,"  as  he  termed  it.  Being  long-legged  and 
an  excellent  walker,  he  was  enabled  to  pick  his 
way  through  comparatively  dry  fields  and  by  the 
roadside,  thus  avoiding  the  mud  which  his  com- 
panions must  contend  with,  and  so  he  managed 
to  keep  up  with  them  for  the  whole  journey, 
which  consumed  four  days.  It  is  quite  prob- 
able that,  in  order  to  have  the  benefit  of  Lin- 
coln's humor,  they  suited  their  gait  to  his,  and  it 
is  manifest  to  such  as  were  familiar  with  the 
methods  of  the  "Wild  and  Woolly  West"  in  those 
days,  that  the  literary  entertainment  of  the  jour- 
ney was  highly  spiced,  if  not  classical.  The  poor- 
est scintillation  of  wit  of  the  journey  reveals  a 
border  of  sadness.  The  future  Emancipator, 
thinly  clad  for  the  season,  shivered  as  a  cold 
northeaster  struck  him,  and  said :  "Boys,  I'm 
cold."  "No  wonder,"  was  the  unfeeling  reply, 
animadverting  on  the  size  of  his  feet,  "there's  so 
much  of  you  on  the  ground." 

However,  the  "Long  Nine"  were  received  with 


STATE  LEGISLATOR  *39 

great  eclat  at  Springfield.  The  keys  and  freedom 
of  the  little  mud-begirt  city  were  accorded  them, 
and  free  dinners  galore  were  spread.  At  one  of 
these  the  following  toast  was  proposed  to  Mr. 
Lincoln :  ''Abraham  Lincoln :  he  has  fulfilled  the 
expectations  of  his  friends,  and  disappointed  the 
hopes  of  his  enemies,"  and  Lincoln  proposed  this 
toast :  "All  our  friends :  they  are  too  numerous 
to  mention  now  individually,  while  there  is  no 
one  of  them  who  is  not  too  dear  to  be  forgotten 
or  neglected."  And  Douglas,  who  was  also  there, 
having  been  appointed  Register  of  the  Land 
Office,  offered  this  toast :  "The  last  winter's  legis- 
lation :  may  its  results  prove  no  less  beneficial 
to  the  whole  State  than  they  have  to  our  town." 

But  the  novelty  wore  off  in  a  day  or  two,  and 
the  usual  humdrum  of  existence  prevailed.  Lin- 
coln had  had  the  lead  in  the  honors  accorded,  and, 
although  his  name  was  as  sonorous  and  more 
applauded  than  any,  he  was  the  sole  one  of  the 
"Long  Nine"  who  had  no  local  habitation  or 
home,  and  the  necessity  for  achieving  one  pressed 
remorselessly  upon  him. 

Soon  after  leaving  Springfield  at  this  time,  he 
visited  Athens,  where  his  colleague,  Robert  L. 
Wilson,  of  the  "Long  Nine,"  resided,  and  that 
community  extended  to  Mr.  Lincoln  the  compli- 
ment of  a  banquet,  at  which  he  was  accorded  the 
toast :  "Abraham  Lincoln  :  one  of  Nature's  noble- 
men." One  can  scarcely  credit  the  extreme  rus- 
ticity which  then  prevailed.  These  extremely 
raw  "toasts"  sound  very  like  the  proceedings  of 
a  cross-roads  debating  club — in  fact,  Lincoln  and 
his  surroundings  smacked  of  the  Justice  of  the 
Peace  order  of  law  business,  and  the  "log-cabin 
and  hard  cider"  style  of  social  life. 


14°  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

From  Mr.  Wilson,  whom  I  knew  intimately  in 
after  life,  I  learned  much  of  the  career  of  the 
great  President  in  those  early  days.  Wilson 
said :  "Lincoln  was  a  natural  debater ;  he  was 
always  ready  and  always  got  right  down  to  the 
merits  of  his  case,  without  any  nonsense  or  cir- 
cumlocution. He  was  quite  as  much  at  home  in 
the  Legislature  as  at  New  Salem ;  he  had  a  quaint 
and  peculiar  way,  all  his  own,  of  treating  a  sub- 
ject, and  he  frequently  startled  us  by  his  modes 
— but  he  was  always  right.  He  seemed  to  be  a 
born  politician.  We  followed  his  lead,  but  he 
followed  nobody's  lead ;  he  hewed  the  way  for  us 
to  follow,  and  we  gladly  did  so.  He  could  grasp 
and  concentrate  the  matters  under  discussion, 
and  his  clear  statement  of  an  intricate  or  ob- 
scure subject  was  better  than  an  ordinary  argu- 
ment. It  may  almost  be  said  that  he  did  our 
thinking  for  us,  but  he  had  no  arrogance,  noth- 
ing of  the  dictatorial ;  it  seemed  the  right  thing 
to  do  as  he  did.  He  excited  no  envy  or  jealousy. 
He  was  felt  to  be  so  much  greater  than  the  rest 
of  us  that  we  were  glad  to  abridge  our  intellectual 
labors  by  letting  him  do  the  general  thinking 
for  the  crowd.  He  inspired  absolute  respect,  al- 
though he  was  utterly  careless  and  negligent. 
We  would  ride  while  he  would  walk,  but  we  rec- 
ognized him  as  a  master  in  logic ;  he  was  poverty 
itself  when  I  knew  him,  but  still  perfectly  inde- 
pendent. He  would  borrow  nothing  and  never 
ask  favors.  He  seemed  to  glide  along  in  life 
without  any  friction  or  effort."  Soon  after  the 
termination  of  this  session,  Jackson's  relentless 
war  on  the  National  Bank  bore  fruit,  and  that 
institution  closed  its  doors,  followed  by  a  sus- 
pension of  the  banks  in  the  large  cities  of  the 


STATE  LEGISLATOR  141 

Union.  The  danger  was  imminent,  and  the  con- 
servative Governor  convened  the  Legislature  in 
special  session  at  Vandalia,  on  July  10,  1837, 
when  a  practical  message  calling  attention  to 
the  financial  perils  which  environed  the  State, 
and  advising  the  Legislature  to  reef  sails,  and 
throw  out  ballast,  awaited  them.  The  optimistic 
Legislature  paid  no  heed  to  these  monitory  and 
temperate  suggestions,  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
with  an  astonishing  recklessness,  persisted  in 
its  mad  schemes  of  inflation,  and  not  only  so, 
but  added  to  them. 

The  Sangamon  delegation  was  strengthened 
by  the  addition  of  Edward  D.  Baker,  afterwards 
known  to  a  great  fame  as  a  fervent  and  thrill- 
ing orator;  and  the  pyrotechnics  of  oratory  held 
sway  over  prudence,  and  the  approaching  and 
inevitable  pay-day.  So  ultimate  financial  ruin 
was  accelerated,  in  which  Lincoln  was  more  en- 
thusiastic than  his  fellows,  although  at  that  time, 
he  probably  did  not  pay  one  cent  of  taxes,  for 
he  not  only  owned  nothing,  but  was  twelve  hun- 
dred dollars,  or  such  matter,  in  debt.  However, 
this  was  one  branch  of  Lincoln's  training-school, 
by  which,  in  process  of  time,  he  became  the 
wisest  of  our  public  men. 

At  the  ensuing  session  of  the  Legislature, 
which  convened  on  December  9,  1839,  Lincoln 
was  again  a  member,  and  so  conspicuous  that  he 
received  the  votes  of  his  Whig  colleagues  for 
Speaker — thirty-eight  votes,  to  forty-three  for 
his  Democratic  colleague.  He  was  reappointed 
on  the  important  Committee  on  Finance,  and  was 
likewise  made  a  member  of  the  Committee  on 
Counties.  Edward  D.  Baker,  afterwards  United 
States    Senator    from    Oregon,    and    Isaac    P. 


142  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

Walker,  afterwards  United  States  Senator  from 
Wisconsin,  were  members.  But  little  of  public 
importance  was  done,  except  to  bemoan  the  sad 
condition  of  the  finances,  and  make  tentative  ef- 
forts to  retrieve  the  errors  and  profligacy  of  past 
legislation.  Lincoln  started  in  the  session  with  a 
heroic  resolve  to  maintain  the  ground,  but  finance 
was  not  his  forte,  and  he  succumbed  to  the  inev- 
itable, as  the  others  did.  Repudiation  in  dis- 
guise was  boldly  mentioned.  It  was  not  deemed 
possible  that  the  State  could  pay  its  entire  debt ; 
and  discussions  were  entered  into  as  to  which 
parts  were  more,  and  which  less,  meritorious. 
Lincoln  candidly  admitted  "his  share  of  the  re- 
sponsibility in  the  present  crisis" — admitted  that 
he  was  no  financier,  and  did  not  have  the  least 
idea  how  the  State  would  be  extricated  from  its 
embarrassment.  The  Legislature  could  do  noth- 
ing effective ;  work  was  suspended  on  the  public 
improvements,  and  Lincoln's  roseate  hopes  of  be- 
coming the  "De  Witt  Clinton"  of  Illinois  faded 
away  like  the  mists  of  morning. 

He  returned  home  from  this  session  very 
deeply  chagrined  at  the  anti-climacteric  ending  of 
his  brilliant  schemes,  and  had  to  endure  the 
taunts  and  gibes  of  the  Democrats,  to  whom  his 
career  had  afforded  so  excellent  an  opportunity 
for  the  display  of  ridicule  and  envy.  In  order 
to  restore,  if  possible,  his  lost  prestige,  and  to  re- 
trieve his  political  character,  he  offered  himself 
again  as  a  candidate,  and  put  all  the  vigor  he 
knew  into  the  campaign. 

The  campaign  was  a  vituperative  one.  Among 
the  Democratic  orators  was  Edmund  D.  Taylor, 
a  professional  politician,  having  held  office  for 
most  of  his  life;  in  fact,  both  he  and  his  brother 


STATE  LEGISLATOR  M3 

had  a  weakness  for  land  office  appointments,  and 
one  or  the  other,  and  sometimes  both,  were  con- 
stantly feeding,  in  some  way,  at  the  public  crib. 
So  Taylor,  in  one  of  his  speeches,  took  occasion 
to  appeal  to  the  prejudices  of  the  people  by  call- 
ing the  Whigs  "English  aristocrats,"  and  speak- 
ing of  them  as  bankers,  capitalists,  toadies  to  the 
English,  etc.,  and  to  laud  his  party  as  the  lover 
of  the  poor  man,  plain  manners,  honest  work- 
men, etc.  In  point  of  fact,  Taylor  himself,  with 
a  strange  inconsistency  of  conduct,  was  a  con- 
summate fop.  He  never  appeared  in  public  with- 
out a  ruffled  shirt,  a  blue  coat  and  brass  buttons, 
and  a  gold-headed  cane.  This  habit  he  persisted 
in  to  his  ninetieth  year,  when,  with  his  oiled  and 
glossy  locks  and  erect  deportment,  he  would  eas- 
ily pass  for  a  youth  of  sixty.  When  Taylor  had 
concluded  this  demagogic  appeal,  Lincoln  caught 
the  lower  edge  of  his  vest  and  suddenly  jerked  it 
open,  exhibiting  a  huge  ruffled  shirt  and  a  pon- 
derous gold  watch-chain  with  a  lot  of  ornamental 
appendages,  which  Taylor  had  designed  to  con- 
ceal for  the  occasion,  to  the  dire  confusion  of 
Taylor  and  the  infinite  merriment  of  the  crowd. 
Then  Lincoln  "sailed  into"  the  pretensions 
launched  forth  by  Taylor,  in  this  style:  "And 
here's  Dick  Taylor  charging  us  with  aristocracy 
and  gilt  manners,  and  claiming  to  be  an  expo- 
nent of  the  farmers  and  cattle  raisers ;  and  while 
he's  doing  this,  he  stands  in  a  hundred-dollar 
suit  of  clothes  in  a  dancing  master's  pomp  and 
parade,  with  a  ruffled  shirt  just  such  as  his  mas- 
ter, General  Jackson,  wears,  and  a  gold  log-chain 
around  his  neck  to  keep  his  watch  from  being 
stole  by  some  of  us,  and  with  a  big  gold-headed 
cane.    And  while  he  was  raised  in  this  style,  I 


144  'LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

was  a-steering  a  flatboat  down  the  river  for 
eight  dollars  a  month,  with  a  torn  shirt,  one  pair 
of  buckskin  breeches,  and  a  warmas  as  my  only- 
suit.  The  Bible  says,  'By  their  fruits  ye  shall 
know  them' ;  now  I  have  got  on  my  best  to-day, 
and  Taylor  has  got  on  his  shabbiest.  You  can 
judge  which  one  of  us  is  the  aristocrat  by  our 
appearance." 

The  canvass  was  full  of  bitterness.  Baker  was 
once  making  a  Whig  speech  in  the  courthouse,  in 
the  course  of  which  he  dealt  the  Democracy  some 
pretty  severe  blows,  exciting  the  wrath  of  the 
Democrats  so  that  they  cried :  "Hustle  him 
down !"  and  began  to  move  toward  him  to  carry 
out  the  threat.  The  room  had  a  very  low  ceiling, 
and  there  was  a  hole  in  the  floor  just  above  the 
judge's  stand  (which  was  in  the  centre  of  the 
building)  to  let  in  light  and  air.  Lincoln's  office 
was  in  the  second  story,  and  he  was  lying  down 
by  this  hole,  to  hear  Baker's  speech.  When  he 
saw  this  attempt  to  mob  Baker,  he  at  once  let 
himself  down  through  the  hole,  and,  appearing  at 
the  side  of  Baker,  shouted  in  a  voice  of  authority 
that  was  at  once  respected  :  "Stop  this.  Baker  has 
a  right  to  speak  as  he  pleases,  and  if  you  take  him 
off  the  stand,  you'll  have  to  take  me,  too !" 

Baker  then  finished  his  speech  just  as  he  de- 
sired, and  Lincoln  went  out  in  the  street,  and 
stayed  with  him  as  long  as  he  was  menaced  with 
danger. 

Jesse  B.  Thomas,  a  leader  of  the  Democracy, 
in  the  absence  of  Lincoln  made  a  good  deal  of 
sport  of  him,  which  some  friends  of  the  latter 
reported  in  time  for  him  to  reach  the  meeting 
before  it  broke  up.  As  soon  as  Thomas  had 
concluded,  there  were  vociferous  shouts  for  Lin- 


STATE  LEGISLATOR  M5 

coin  from  all  over  the  house.  The  latter  was 
"on  tap."  Having  heard  of  Thomas's  line  of 
remark,  he  was  wrought  up  to  his  extremest  ten- 
sion, and  abused  Thomas  in  a  merciless  way. 
He  mimicked  Thomas  perfectly,  showed  off  all 
his  peculiarities  and  weaknesses,  and  kept  the 
audience  in  a  roar  of  derision  at  poor  Thomas, 
who  was  in  full  view  of  the  audience  during  the 
whole  scene,  and  could  not  escape.  It  was  a 
long  time  before  this  incident,  called  the  "skin- 
ning of  Thomas,"  was  forgotten  in  Springfield; 
but  Lincoln  himself,  to  whose  nature  the  attack 
was  entirely  foreign,  after  it  was  over  felt  very 
sorry  for  it,  and  even  went  so  far  as  to  apologize 
to  Thomas. 

Lincoln  himself  told  me  of  an  incident  that 
happened  at  the  election.  Baker  was  born  on  the 
sea,  when  his  parents  were  emigrating  to  this 
country  from  England,  and  it  used  to  be  occa- 
sionally said  that  he  was  not  a  qualified  voter. 
So  on  this  election  day  a  prominent  Democrat 
said  to  Baker,  "I'm  going  to  challenge  your 
vote."  This  was  a  tender  point  with  Baker,  as 
well  as  a  deadly  insult,  and  he  quickly  said,  "If 
you  do,  I'll  lick  you."  Baker  tendered  his  vote, 
which  the  man  challenged,  and  Baker  took  the 
oath  and  voted.  Then  in  quicker  time  than  he 
could  comprehend  that  anything  had  occurred, 
the  man  lay  in  the  street,  his  face  covered  with 
blood,  the  worst  whipped  man  Lincoln  said  that 
he  had  ever  seen. 

No  event  prior  to  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise  ever  happened  in  Illinois  which  cre- 
ated so  much  excitement  as  the  removal  of  the 
State  capital.  The  first  measure  was  a  joint  res- 
olution to  relocate  by  a  joint  convention  of  the 


146  'LINCOLN  THE  'CITIZEN 

two  houses  on  a  day  named.  That  day  was  a 
red-letter  day  in  the  history  of  Vandalia,  for  all 
the  politicians  in  the  State  were  there,  each  one 
advocating  his  favorite  location.  There  were  a 
dozen  competing  places,  six  actively  so,  and  the 
rest  hoping  that  an  emergency  would  arise  that 
would  bring  one  of  them  to  the  front.  The  lead- 
ing places  were  Springfield,  Jacksonville,  Van- 
dalia, Peoria,  Alton,  and  Illiopolis  (the  centre  of 
the  State).  When  the  first  ballot  was  taken,  in- 
tense excitement  prevailed.  Lincoln's  adroit  tac- 
tics were  felt  and  acknowledged  throughout,  and 
Springfield  secured  more  votes  than  any  two  of 
its  competitors  combined  on  the  first  ballot,  and 
continued  to  grow  on  every  ballot,  securing  the 
coveted  prize  on  the  fourth. 

An  appropriation  of  $50,000  was  made  toward 
providing  a  capital  building,  and  Springfield  was 
required  to  obligate  itself  to  pay  $50,000  toward 
the  same  object.  It  took  herculean  efforts  to 
raise  this  amount,  and  Douglas  proposed  a  meas- 
ure to  release  the  city  from  its  obligation,  but 
Lincoln  opposed  it.  Said  he :  "We  have  the  ben- 
efit; let  us  stand  to  our  obligation  like  men." 
The  sum  was  divided  into  three  instalments ;  the 
first  two  were  raised,  but  they  had  to  borrow  the 
last  instalment  from  the  State  Bank.  To  secure 
this  a  joint  note  was  made,  signed  by  every  citi- 
zen of  the  place. 

The  first  Legislature  to  convene  in  Springfield 
used  temporary  quarters :  the  Representatives  sat 
in  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  on  Fourth 
Street ;  the  Senate  in  the  Methodist  Church ;  and 
the  Supreme  Court  in  the  Episcopal  Church. 

Of  this  Legislature  which  sat  at  Springfield, 
Lyman  Trumbull,  William  H.  Bissell,  Thomas 


STATE  LEGISLATOR  *47 

Drummond,  and  Ebenezer  Peck — all  greatly  dis- 
tinguished thereafter  —  were  members,  and 
John  Calhoun,  of  "candle-box"  notoriety  after- 
wards, was  Clerk.  Lincoln  was  again  the  Whig 
candidate  for  Speaker,  receiving  thirty-six  votes, 
but  was  defeated  by  W.L.D.Ewing,who  received 
forty-six  votes.  On  account  of  the  financial  dis- 
tress and  incidents  growing  out  of  the  same,  the 
Governor  convened  the  Legislature  two  weeks 
earlier  than  its  regular  session.  The  banks  all 
over  the  nation  had  been  forced  by  the  panic  of 
1837  to  suspend  specie  payments,  and  at  the  pre- 
vious session,  the  Legislature  of  Illinois  had  au- 
thorized its  State  Bank  to  suspend  specie  pay- 
ments till  the  end  of  the  next  General  Assembly. 
The  Democratic  party  got  into  a  quarrel  with 
the  Bank,  and,  in  consequence,  conceived  a  plan 
to  force  it  to  resume,  by  adjourning  sine  die  at 
the  end  of  the  first  fortnight  of  the  regular  ses- 
sion, which  would  have  been  ruinous,  for  this 
reason,  that  the  banks  of  all  other  States  being 
suspended,  if  the  State  Bank  of  this  one  State 
was  alone  compelled  to  redeem  its  bills,  an  at- 
tempt would  be  made  to  run  every  one  of  them 
home  at  once,  which,  of  course,  would  very  soon 
exhaust  their  small  stock  of  specie.  The  Whigs, 
having  heard  of  this  scheme  on  the  morning  of 
the  day  it  was  to  be  attempted,  resolved  to  coun- 
teract it  in  this  way :  it  needed  several  of  the 
Whig  members  to  constitute  a  quorum  for  the 
transaction  of  business,  but  on  an  attempt  to 
take  a  vote,  a  quorum  would  be  assumed  as  pres- 
ent, if  unchallenged,  and  so  all  Whig  members 
stayed  out  of  the  chamber,  except  Lincoln  and 
Joseph  Gillespie,  who  remained  to  call  for  the 
ayes  and  noes  when  an  attempt  should  be  made 


148  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

to  adjourn  sine  die.  The  Democrats,  seeing  the 
ruse,  made  a  call  of  the  house,  and  sent  the 
Sergeant-at-Arms  out  to  hunt  up  the  absentees. 
Lincoln  and  Gillespie,  seeing  Whigs  brought  in, 
agreed  with  two  of  them  that  they  should  move 
for  the  ayes  and  noes,  and  then  attempted  to 
withdraw ;  but  finding  the  doors  locked  by  order 
of  the  Speaker,  they  raised  a  window,  and,  joined 
by  Asahel  Gridley  of  Bloomington,  jumped  out 
and  secreted  themselves.  Although  judged  by 
the  canons  of  political  morality  this  was  a  justifi- 
able act,  Lincoln  ever  thereafter  regretted 
it,  and  would  always  have  some  little  inapposite 
story  to  narrate  whenever  the  story  came  up,  in 
order  to  divert  the  subject.  A  most  rancorous 
partisan  spirit  prevailed  throughout  the  entire 
session,  and  the  Democrats,  having  the  power, 
carried  measures  with  a  high  hand,  one  of  their 
schemes  being  a  total  overthrow  of  the  judicial 
system  of  the  State,  and  the  substitution  therefor 
of  a  strictly  partisan  bench,  for  partisan  objects. 
The  law,  as  it  then  stood,  provided  that  all 
white  male  inhabitants  should  vote,  etc.  This, 
the  Democrats  contended,  included  aliens,  but 
the  Galena  judge,  on  a  test  case,  decided  that 
it  did  not  include  aliens.  Whereupon  Douglas 
drafted  a  bill  vacating  the  seats  of  the  nine  cir- 
cuit judges,  and  providing  for  the  appointment, 
by  the  Legislature,  of  nine  additional  Supreme 
Judges,  who  also  should  perform  "Circuit"  duty. 
Of  course,  the  Legislature  appointed  Democrats, 
who  decided  the  law  as  the  party  wished ;  and 
thus,  by  one  of  the  most  high-handed  outrages 
upon  the  judiciary,  and  usurpations  of  political 
and  constitutional  power,  the  law  was  subverted, 
the  independence  of  the  judicial  power  invaded, 


STATE  LEGISLATOR  M9 

and  a  general  degradation  of  the  law  and  public 
morality  enforced.  Douglas,  the  author  of  the 
law,  became  one  of  the  new  judges,  but  the 
odious  system  did  not  last  long.  Public  opinion 
everywhere  condemned  it,  and  the  new  consti- 
tution made  it  impossible  for  the  Legislature 
thereafter  to  punish  the  judiciary  for  trying  to 
administer  the  law  honestly.  This  example 
indicates  the  rabid  and  vicious  character  of 
local  politics  in  Illinois  in  the  days  of  Lincoln's 
novitiate  in  that  field  where  he  was  destined  to 
garner  such  colossal  fame  in  the  days  to  come. 
Lincoln  subsequently,  in  the  debates  with  Doug- 
las, made  good  use  of  this  episode  in  his  oppo- 
nent's early  career,  showing  that  the  advocate  of 
the  Dred  Scott  decision  had  not  always  upheld 
the  sanctity  of  the  judiciary. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  absent  for  a  considerable  part 
of  the  regular  session,  on  account  of  nervous 
irritation  and  general  ill-health.  He  visited  his 
friend  Joshua  F.  Speed,  who  had  removed  to 
the  Speed  plantation,  near  Louisville.  While 
there,  he  was  wont' to  visit  James  Speed's  law 
office  in  Louisville  and  amuse  himself  with  the 
law  library,  neither  one  then  thinking  that  one 
of  them  would  become  President  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  other  his  Cabinet  law  adviser. 

This  was  Lincoln's  last  legislative  service. 
During  its  existence  he  gained  much  experience, 
became  acquainted  with  the  genius  of  Illinois 
laws  and  polities,  and  the  laws  themselves,  and 
the  politicians,  and  was  enabled  to  gauge,  to  some 
extent,  his  own  merits  and  abilities  as  a  politi- 
cian and  public  man. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  statesmanship  was  in  a  chrysalis 
state.    His  evolution  from  a  backwoods  youth  to 


15°  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

a  man  of  affairs  was  not  yet  complete.  His 
training  for  his  true  mission  in  life  had  just  be- 
gun.   A  Lincoln  was  not  made  in  a  day. 

In  1854,  his  political  friends  brought  him  and 
Judge  Logan  out  as  candidates  for  the  Legisla- 
ture, and  although  both  Lincoln  and  his  wife 
tried  to  prohibit  it,  yet  both  he  and  Logan  were 
kept  in  the  field  and  both  were  elected.  Lincoln 
was  a  candidate  for  the  United  States  Senate, 
and  declined  the  position.  The  Democrats  took 
advantage  of  the  opportunity,  and  elected  one  of 
their  number  to  fill  the  vacancy.  Had  Lincoln 
remained  in  the  position,  the  result  of  the  Sena- 
torial election  might  have  been  otherwise. 

William  Jayne,  a  brother-in-law  of  Senator 
Trumbull,  was  one  of  the  most  active  and  per- 
sistent of  the  Springfield  local  politicians.  He 
attended  all  conventions,  great  and  small,  and 
was  a  man  of  inflexible  integrity  to  his  friends 
and  principles.  Jayne  went  to  Lincoln  to  get  his 
consent  to  run,  and  thus  reports  the  occurrence : 
"I  went  to  see  him  in  order  to  get  his  consent  to 
run.  This  was  at  his  home.  He  was  then  the 
saddest  man  I  ever  saw — the  gloomiest.  He 
walked  up  and  down  the  floor  almost  crying,  and 
to  all  my  persuasions  to  let  his  name  stand  in  the 
paper,  he  said :  'No,  I  can't ;  you  don't  know  all. 
I  say  you  don't  begin  to  know  one-half,  and  that's 
enough.'  I  did  go,  however,  and  have  his  name 
reinstated." 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  it  was  Mrs. 
Lincoln's  opposition  which  so  much  disturbed 
him.  She  insisted  in  her  imperious  way  that  he 
must  now  go  to  the  United  States  Senate,  and 
that  it  was  a  degradation  to  run  him  for  the 
Legislature 


CHAPTER  VIII 

CONGRESSMAN 

Mr.  Lincoln's  first  law  partner,  John  T. 
Stuart,  ran  and  was  defeated  for  the  Twenty- 
fifth  Congress,  which  sat  in  December,  1837,  but 
he  was  successful  for  the  Twenty-sixth  and 
Twenty-seventh  Congresses.  For  the  next  Con- 
gress in  course,  the  Twenty-eighth,  which  was 
to  meet  on  December  4,  1843,  the  city  of  Spring- 
field presented  three  several  Whig  competitors 
for  the  nomination,  viz. :  Judge  Logan,  E.  D. 
Baker,  and  Mr.  Lincoln.  Logan  withdrew,  leav- 
ing the  field  to  Baker  and  Lincoln.  Baker  se- 
cured the  delegation,  one  of  whom  was  Lincoln, 
who  humorously  wrote  that  he  felt,  in  attending 
the  convention,  like  attending  as  the  "best  man" 
at  a  successful  rival's  wedding.  However,  Baker 
lost  the  nomination,  it  going  to  John  J.  Hardin 
of  Jacksonville,  who  was  elected.  At  the  next 
convention,  held  in  1844,  Baker  was  nominated 
and  thereafter  elected.  He  resigned  on  Decem- 
ber 30,  1846,  in  order  to  return  to  the  Mexican 
War,  he  having  participated  in  it  the  previous 
summer,  and  one  John  Henry  was  elected  to  fill 
the  vacancy  of  nearly  a  month. 

Lincoln  and  Logan  were  both  candidates  for 
the  succession,  but  the  latter  withdrew,  in  conse- 
quence, probably,  of  an  agreement  that  he  should 
run  next  time.    He  presented  Lincoln's  name  to 

151 


IS2  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

the  convention,  which  met  at  Petersburgh  in 
May,  1846,  and  the  latter  was  unanimously 
nominated. 

The  Democrats  nominated  Rev.  Peter  Cart- 
wright,  the  most  eminent  and  widely  known 
Methodist  preacher  in  the  State.  Cartwright 
was  an  untiring  worker  and  personally  very  pop- 
ular, owing  to  his  force  of  character.  The  can- 
vass on  both  sides  was  made  with  great  vigor  and 
spirit,  not  to  say  acrimony.  Cartwright  appealed 
to  the  prejudices  of  the  religious  community 
against  Lincoln,  branding  him  as  an  infidel, 
which  was  a  more  terrible  accusation  then  than 
now.  That  the  reverend  gentleman  took  no  pride 
in  this  canvass  is  patent  in  this,  that  in  an  auto- 
biography published  by  him  afterwards  the  cir- 
cumstance is  not  alluded  to  at  all.  Lincoln  was 
elected  by  an  unprecedented  majority — 1,511 
votes — the  usual  majority  in  the  district  being 
about  500.  This  was  a  great  honor,  in  view  of 
the  kind  of  canvass  which  was  made  against  him. 

The  principal  subject  for  political  considera- 
tion was  the  Mexican  War,  which  was  then  wag- 
ing. In  Illinois  the  war  was  popular,  even 
among  the  Whigs.  Hardin  and  Baker,  both 
Whigs,  fought  in  it,  and  Hardin  was  killed  at 
Buena  Vista.  Lincoln  partook  of  the  spirit  of 
the  time,  and  made  a  fervent  war  speech  to  his 
constituents  on  May  29,  1847.  In  December, 
1847,  ne  appeared  in  Congress,  the  only  Whig 
from  Illinois ;  his  Democratic  colleagues  from 
Illinois  being :  Robert  Smith,  from  Alton ;  John 
A.  McClernand,  from  Shawneetown ;  Orlando  B. 
Ficklin,  from  Charleston ;  William  A.  Richard- 
son, from  Rushville ;  Thomas  J.  Turner,  from 
Freeport ;  and  John  Wentworth,  from  Chicago. 


CONGRESSMAN  15  3 

This  was  a  very  talented  and  a  very  eventful 
Congress.  Questions  relating  to  the  accessions 
and  government  of  new  territory  were  being  con- 
sidered. In  the  Senate  were  Bell,  Calhoun,  Cor- 
win,  Crittenden,  Davis,  Dayton,  Dickinson,  Dix, 
Douglas,  Hale,  Hunter,  and  Webster ;  and  in  the 
House,  Ashmun,  Andrew  Johnson,  Toombs, 
Giddings,  Wilmot,  Collamer,  Botts,  Rhett,  Ste- 
phens, and  Clingman.  Robert  C.  Winthrop  of 
Massachusetts  was  Speaker. 

On  December  20,  1847,  the  following  resolu- 
tions came  up  for  action  on  a  motion  to  lay  on 
the  table,  and  Lincoln  voted  with  his  party 
against  the  motion,  and  in  favor  of  the  measure : 

Resolved,  That  if  in  the  judgment  of  Congress  it  be 
necessary  to  improve  the  navigation  of  a  river  to  ex- 
pedite and  render  secure  the  movements  of  our  Army, 
and  save  from  delay  and  loss,  our  arms  and  munitions 
of  war,  that  Congress  has  the  power  to  improve  such 
river. 

Resolved,  That  if  it  be  necessary  for  the  preservation 
of  the  lives  of  our  seamen,  repairs,  safety,  or  main- 
tenance of  our  vessels  of  war,  to  improve  a  harbor 
or  inlet,  either  on  our  Atlantic  or  lake  coast,  Congress 
has  the  power  to  make  such  improvement. 

On  December  21,  1847,  Joshua  A.  Giddings 
presented  a  petition  from  certain  citizens  of 
Washington  City  for  the  repeal  of  the  slave-trade 
in  the  District  of  Columbia  (there  then  being  a 
slave-market  within  earshot  of  the  Capitol).  Mr. 
Giddings  attempted  to  have  it  referred  to  the 
Judiciary  Committee,  with  instructions  to  inquire 
into  the  constitutionality  of  all  laws  by  which 
slaves  are  held  as  property  in  the  District  of  Co- 
lumbia. The  pro-slavery  hordes  tried  to  lay  the 
measure  on  the  table,  but  failed.  Mr.  Lincoln 
voted  with  Giddings  not  to  lay  on  the  table. 


154  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

On  December  22,  Wentworth  from  Chicago 
moved  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  the  General  Government  has  the 
power  to  construct  such  harbors  and  improve  such 
rivers  as  are  necessary  and  proper  for  the  protection  of 
our  navy  and  commerce,  and  also  for  the  defences  of 
our  country. 

It  passed,  after  an  animated  debate,  by  138  to 
54,  Mr.  Lincoln  voting  aye. 

On  December  22,  Mr.  Lincoln  attempted  a  po- 
litical coup  de  main,  if  not,  indeed,  a  coup  d'etat, 
which  he  took  great  pride  in  at  the  time,  but 
which  proved  to  be  a  coup  de  grace  to  his  imme- 
diate political  aspirations.  He  made  a  motion 
which  was  ever  afterward  called  in  derision  the 
"spot"  resolutions,  and  brought  upon  their  au- 
thor unmerited  obloquy.  The  reception  and  fate 
of  this  proposed  measure  show  the  political  folly 
of  attempting  to  impede  or  cavil  at  a  national 
war,  whether  just  or  unjust. 

In  point  of  fact,  these  resolutions  were  in  the 
highest  degree  proper.  It  was  the  administra- 
tion which  inaugurated  the  war,  and  yet  Presi- 
dent Polk,  at  the  behest  of  the  slavocracy,  took 
especial  pains  to  set  forth,  in  all  ways,  and  when- 
ever he  could,  that  the  Mexicans  had  done  so. 
The  Whig  party  in  Congress  denounced  this  lie, 
as  was  proper,  but  Mr.  Lincoln  seriously  crippled 
his  political  career  by  being  too  fresh,  and  fur- 
nishing a  basis  for  slander.  Thomas  Corwin  dug 
his  political  grave  even  deeper  by  exclaiming  in 
the  Senate :  "Were  I  a  Mexican,  as  I  am  an 
American,  I  would  say  to  the  invader :  We  will 
welcome  you  with  bloody  hands  to  hospitable 
graves." 

Always  thereafter  the  Democratic  press  and 


CONGRESSMAN  *55 

orators  charged  Mr.  Lincoln  with  voting  against 
supplies  for  the  Mexican  War,  and  in  the  joint 
debate,  Douglas  charged  that  Lincoln  took  the 
side  of  the  enemy  against  his  own  country. 

As  late  as  June,  1858,  the  Chicago  Times 
charged  Lincoln  with  voting  against  the  supplies 
to  our  soldiers  in  the  Mexican  War,  the  "spot  res- 
olutions" being  its  only  basis.  I  sent  the  paper  to 
Mr.  Lincoln  and  he  replied :  "Give  yourself  no 
uneasiness  about  my  having  voted  against  the 
supplies,  unless  you  are  without  faith  that  a  lie 
can  be  successfully  contradicted."  He  further 
stated  that  he  was  then  considering  as  to  the 
best  way  to  contradict  it,  but  he  deemed  it  best 
to  do  nothing  about  it. 

On  the  17th  of  February,  1848,  the  question 
of  supplies  for  the  army  in  Mexico  came  to  a 
test  vote  on  a  Loan  Bill  to  raise  $16,000,000  to 
pay  government  debts,  chiefly  incurred  in  carry- 
ing on  the  Mexican  War.  Recollect  that  the 
House  of  Representatives  was  a  Whig  one  with 
a  Whig  Speaker,  yet  this  measure  passed  by  a 
vote  of  192  to  14,  Mr.  Lincoln  voting  with  the 
majority;  thus  giving  the  direct  lie  to  the  brood 
of  maligners  and  liars  who  pursued  him  with 
their  venom  constantly  thereafter. 

On  December  28,  1847,  sundry  citizens  of  In- 
diana sent  in  a  petition  for  the  abolition  of  sla- 
very in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  it  was  laid 
on  the  table,  although  Mr.  Lincoln  voted  against 
thus  summarily  disposing  of  it. 

And  on  the  30th  of  December,  a  memorial 
against  the  slave-trade  in  the  District  was  pre- 
sented, and  Lincoln  sustained  its  respectful  con- 
sideration by  his  vote. 

On  January  17,  1848,  Giddings  introduced  a 


»5 6  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

resolution  reporting  alleged  outrages  against  a 
colored  man  in  Washington,  and  asking  for  a 
special  committee  to  determine  on  the  expediency 
of  prohibiting  the  slave-trade  in  the  district. 
Many  test  votes  were  taken  on  the  resolution, 
and  Lincoln  sustained  Giddings  each  time. 

On  February  28  a  resolution  was  offered  in 
the  House,  which  read  thus : 

Whereas,  in  the  settlement  of  the  difficulties  prevail- 
ing between  this  country  and  Mexico,  territory  may  be 
acquired  in  which  slavery  does  not  exist ;  and  whereas, 
Congress,  in  the  organization  of  a  territorial  govern- 
ment, at  an  early  period  of  our  political  history  estab- 
lished a  principle  worthy  of  imitation  in  all  future  time, 
forbidding  the   existence  of   slavery   in   free  territory: 

Therefore,  be  it  Resolved,  That  in  any  territory  which 
may  be  acquired  from  Mexico,  on  which  shall  be  estab- 
lished territorial  governments,  slavery  or  involuntary 
servitude,  except  as  a  punishment  for  crime  whereof  the 
party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted,  should  be  forever 
prohibited,  and  that,  in  any  act  or  resolution  establish- 
ing such  government,  a  fundamental  provision  ought  to 
be  inserted  to  that  effect. 

It  was  laid  on  the  table  by  105  to  92.  Mr. 
Lincoln  voting  with  the  mover,  and  Giddings  in 
the  negative. 

On  April  3,  and  also  on  the  18th,  Mr.  Lincoln 
moved  to  suspend  the  Rules,  so  as  to  take  up 
for  action  the  "Ten  Regiment"  bill. 

On  June  19,  1848,  Stewart  of  Pennsylvania 
offered  a  resolution  favoring  a  protective  tariff, 
as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means  be 
instructed  to  enquire  into  the  expediency  of  reporting  a 
bill  increasing  the  duties  on  foreign  luxuries  of  all 
kinds  and  on  such  foreign  manufactures  as  are  now 
coming  into  ruinous  competition  with  American  labor. 

Mr.  Lincoln  voted  in  favor  of  the  resolution. 


'CONGRESSMAN  *57 

An  important  bill  came  down  from  the  Senate 
on  28th  of  July  to  establish  territorial  govern- 
ments for  the  territories  of  California,  Oregon, 
and  New  Mexico.  It  authorized  slavery  in  Cali- 
fornia and  New  Mexico,  and  was  very  obnoxious 
to  the  Whigs,  even  to  those  from  the  South.  This 
measure  was  of  especial  importance,  as  show- 
ing the  change  of  base  executed  by  Mr.  Web- 
ster between  that  day  and  March  7,  1850,  for  in 
the  speech  of  the  latter  date,  he  took  grounds 
entirely  antagonistic  to  those  exhibited  by  him 
on  this  occasion.  He  closed  his  speech  with 
these  words : 

"Under  no  circumstances  would  I  consent  to  the 
further  extension  of  the  area  of  slavery  in  the  United 
States,  or  to  the  further  increase  of  slave  representa- 
tion in  the  House  of  Representatives." 

Thomas  Corwin  likewise  made  a  forcible 
speech  in  opposition,  ending  as  follows : 

"I  must  consider  it  bad  policy  to  plant  slavery  in  any, 
soil  where  I  do  not  find  it  already  growing.  I  look 
upon  it  as  an  exotic  that  blights  with  its  shade  the  soil 
in  which  you  plant  it,  and  therefore,  as  I  am  satisfied 
of  our  constitutional  power  to  prohibit  it,  so  I  am 
equally  certain  it  is  our  duty  to  do  so." 

Stephens  of  Georgia,  afterwards  Vice- 
President  of  the  Confederacy,  moved  to  lay  the 
bill  on  the  table,  and  voted  "aye."  Lincoln  did 
the  same. 

On  August  2,  the  House  bill  for  organizing 
the  Territory  of  Oregon  came  up,  and  a  motion 
was  made  to  repeal  the  Ordinance  of  1787  pro- 
hibiting slavery  there.  Mr.  Lincoln  voted  against 
it.  From  first  to  last  he  was  consistently  on  the 
side  of  freedom  in  the  Territories. 


158  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

During  this  session,  Mr.  Lincoln  showed  his 
sterling  qualities  as  a  debater  in  the  delivery  of 
several  speeches,  all  emphasized  by  clearness  of 
statement  and  vigor  of  reasoning,  characteristic 
of  him  during  the  slavery  discussions.  On  Jan- 
uary 12,  1848,  he  made  a  notable  speech  on  the 
War  with  Mexico. 

I  do  not  believe  that  anybody  could  have 
crowded  more  matter  in  the  same  amount  of 
space. 

On  June  20,  he  spoke  on  the  subject  of  Internal 
Improvements. 

On  the  27th  of  July,  he  made  a  speech  in  deri- 
sion of  General  Cass's  claim  to  be  a  military  hero, 
which,  though  sadly  lacking  in  dignity,  enter- 
tained the  House  and  the  nation,  and  formed  an 
admirable  campaign  document. 

At  the  second,  or  short,  session,  on  December 
12,  1848,  the  following  resolution  was  submitted : 

Resolved,  That  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means 
be  instructed  to  inquire  into  the  expediency  of  reporting 
a  Tariff  Bill  based  upon  the  principles  of  the  Tariff  of 
1842. 

And  Mr.  Lincoln  voted  for  it. 

As  showing  Mr.  Lincoln's  love  of  perfect  jus- 
tice is  this  incident :  Palfrey  of  Massachusetts 
proposed  a  bill  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District 
of  Columbia  without  any  compensation  to  own- 
ers, and  Mr.  Lincoln  voted  No,  because  no  pro- 
vision for  compensation  was  included.  On  the 
same  day,  however,  a  resolution  was  offered,  as 
follows : 

Resolved,  That  the  Committee  on  Territories  be  in- 
structed to  report  to  this  House  with  as  little  delay  as 
practicable,  a  bill  or  bills  providing  a  territorial  gov- 
ernment for  each  of  the  territories  of  New  Mexico  and 
California,  and  excluding  slavery  therefrom. 


CONGRESSMAN  159 

Mr.  Lincoln  supported  this  measure  heartily. 
On  the  2 1 st  of  December,  Mr.  Gott  proposed 
the  following  resolution : 

Whereas,  the  traffic  now  prosecuted  in  this  metrop- 
olis of  the  Republic  in  human  beings  as  chattels  is  con- 
trary to  natural  justice  and  the  fundamental  principles 
of  our  political  system,  and  is  notoriously  a  reproach  to 
our  country  throughout  Christendom,  and  a  serious 
hindrance  to  the  progress  of  republican  liberty  among 
the  nations  of  the  earth : 

Therefore,  be  it  Resolved,  That  the  Committee  for 
the  District  of  Columbia  be  instructed  to  report  a  bill 
as  soon  as  practicable  prohibiting  the  slave  trade  in  said 
district. 

Because  Lincoln  did  not  like  the  meagre  pro- 
visions of  the  bill,  he  voted  to  lay  it  on  the  table ; 
and  that  having  failed,  on  the  passage  of  the 
resolution  Mr.  Lincoln  voted  "nay." 

On  December  21,  the  following  resolution  was 
proposed  in  the  House : 

Resolved,  That  the  present  traffic  in  the  public  lands 
should  cease,  and  that  they  should  be  disposed  of  to 
occupants  and  cultivators  on  proper  conditions,  at  such 
a  price  as  will  nearly  indemnify  the  cost  of  their  pur- 
chase, management  and  sale. 

This  measure  received  Lincoln's  support. 

The  "Gott  resolution,"  heretofore  mentioned, 
to  prohibit  the  slave-trade  in  the  District  of  Co- 
lumbia having  again  come  before  the  House  on 
a  reconsideration,  Mr.  Lincoln  offered  an  elabo- 
rate measure  as  a  substitute. 

On  January  31,  a  bill  was  reported  from  the 
District  of  Columbia  to  prohibit  the  bringing  of 
slaves  into  the  District,  either  as  merchandise  or 
for  hire.    Mr.  Lincoln  sustained  it 

On  February  21,  Mr.  Lincoln  sustained  a  bill 


i6o  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

to  abolish  the  franking  privilege.     His  congref" 
sional  career  came  to  an  end  on  March  4  ensuing. 

While  Mr.  Lincoln's  congressional  career  gave 
no  sign  of  the  tremendous  possibilities  after- 
wards developed,  it  nevertheless,  tested  by  prin- 
ciple, is  a  very  creditable  career,  although  it  was 
deficient  in  matter  of  policy. 

It  was  not  Mr.  Lincoln's  style,  however,  to 
let  policy  govern  principle  or  stand  in  its  way. 
He  knew  that  the  Mexican  War  was  founded  on 
a  lie ;  and  he  felt  that  it  was  his  duty  to  con- 
tribute to  the  unmasking  of  the  fallacies  and 
deceit  of  an  administration  given  over  completely 
to  the  behests  of  the  slave  power. 

On  the  subject  of  slavery,  he  was  consistent 
then  as  always.  He  believed  that  Congress  had 
the  right  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Co- 
lumbia, and  he  so  stated  as  early  as  1837,  in  his 
protest  in  the  Illinois  Legislature ;  but  he  also 
believed  that  the  rights  of  the  white  people  of 
the  District,  and  of  the  slave-owners,  should  be 
respected. 

He  believed  in  the  perfect  right  of  Congress  to 
prohibit  slavery  in  the  Territories,  and  that  no 
right  at  all  existed  in  Congress  to  interfere  with 
it  in  the  slave  States ;  and  to  the  observance  of 
these  principles  he  was,  throughout,  consistent. 

The  "spot"  resolutions,  however,  formed  a 
basis  for  misrepresentation  and  vilification,  which 
rendered  Mr.  Lincoln's  career  unsavory  on  the 
whole,  ruled  him  out  of  politics  for  the  time 
being,  and  turned  his  district  over  to  the  em- 
braces of  the  enemy.  In  point  of  fact,  it  has 
always  had  a  Democratic  representation  since,  al- 
though it  must  be  said  that  a  redistricting  took 
place  in  185 1,  by  a  Democratic  Legislature. 


CHAPTER  IX 

CITIZEN    AND   NEIGHBOR 

In  Lincoln's  day,  the  seminal  principle  of  the 
haut  ton  of  his  home  town  was  derived  from 
the  Kentucky  "bluegrass"  region.  Two  sons  of 
Governor  Edwards,  who  had  been  Chief  Justice 
of  Kentucky,  Territorial  Governor  of  Illinois, 
and  Minister  to  Mexico;  three  daughters  and  a 
nephew  of  Hon.  Robert  T.  Todd,  who  had  been 
a  leader  of  the  political  and  social  aristocracy  of 
Kentucky;  the  Mathers,  Ridgeleys,  Opdykes, 
Forquers,  Fords,  Lambs,  and  Herndons  formed 
the  Springfield  aristocracy.  Mr.  Lincoln  gained 
an  excellent  social  as  well  as  political  standing 
at  Springfield  by  his  successful  efforts  about  the 
capital  removal,  and  also  by  his  partnership  with 
John  T.  Stuart.  Consequently,  when  he  married 
Miss  Mary  Todd,  who  was  a  member  of  the 
Kentucky  aristocracy,  it  was  not  considered  to 
be  a  mesalliance;  its  only  social  consequence  was 
to  engender  an  envious  feeling  among  the  ple- 
beian fraternity  who  had  theretofore  claimed  him. 
Throughout  his  social  life  he  was  always  plain 
and  unassuming;  he  lived  in  very  moderate  con- 
dition ;  had  no  man  servant  or  errand  boy,  attend- 
ing to  his  horse,  cow,  woodpile,  and  stable  him- 
self. He  chopped  wood,  went  to  market,  and  did 
the  chores  and  odd  jobs  about  the  place.  This 
round  of  duties  did  not  cease  till  a  week  after 

161 


162  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

his  nomination  for  the  Presidency.  His  near- 
est neighbor  was  a  working  carpenter,  and  Lin- 
coln used  frequently  to  go  into  his  yard  on  neigh- 
borly errands,  to  do  which  he  would  strad- 
dle a  low  fence.  However,  his  neighborly  asso- 
ciation extended  no  further.  This  geographical 
neighbor  was  never  in  Mr.  Lincoln's  house  ex- 
cept to  make  repairs,  and  the  great  President 
was  never  in  his  neighbor's  house,  except  on 
small  errands.  I  recollect  that  one  of  Lincoln's 
queerest  stories  includes  a  visit  to  his  neigh- 
bor's kitchen  to  borrow  spoons  one  evening,  when 
he  had  company  to  tea. 

To  reconcile  some  otherwise  irreconcilable 
incidents  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  biography,  an  under- 
standing of  the  political  and  social  bias  of  his 
neighbors  and  neighborhood  is  necessary.  In 
1856,  we  are  advised  by  local  history  that,  al- 
though Herndon  took  extra  pains  to  get  up  an 
enthusiastic  reception  to  his  illustrious  partner 
upon  a  distinguished  occasion,  yet  no  one  came 
except  one  obscure  man,  and  the  discomfited 
partners  turned  off  the  gas  and  went  home 
very  meek  and  chopfallen.  Yet  Lincoln  had 
been  his  townsmen's  Congressman  eight  years 
previously ;  had  been  five  several  times  elected  by 
this  same  people  to  the  Legislature — the  last  time 
only  two  years  before. 

This  inharmony  between  cause  and  effect  had 
its  basis  in  social  and  political  prejudice;  the 
early  settlers  of  southern  Illinois  were  from  the 
slave  States,  and  they  were  wedged  in  between 
either  slave-holding  communities,  or  those  hav- 
ing such  affiliations,  so  that  the  Yankees  and 
Abolitionists  were  as  much  below  par  in  south- 
ern and  central  Illinois  as  they  were  in  Kentucky 


CITIZEN  AND  NEIGHBOR  163 

or  Missouri.  This  prejudice  invaded  the  sanctu- 
ary, and  even  when  the  theme  was  abounding 
grace  and  universal  brotherhood,  it  still  was  not 
temporarily  laid  aside.  The  virtue  of  fraternal 
love  could  not  be  assumed,  even  in  the  fervor  of 
religious  zeal.  A  Chadband  of  the  "hardshell" 
order  thus  exclaimed  in  a  sermon :  "The  over- 
whelming torrent  of  free  grace  tuk  in  the  moun- 
tings of  Ashy,  the  isles  of  the  sea,  and  the  utter- 
most ends  of  the  yearth.  It  tuk  in  the  Eskimo 
and  the  Hottingtots;  and  some,  my  dear 
brethring,  go  so  fur  as  to  suppose  it  tuk  in  them 
air  poor,  benighted  Yangkcys;  but  I  don't  go  that 
fur!" 

Of  course,  when  the  Nebraska  Bill  was  passed, 
this  feeling  became  all  the  more  rancorous,  in 
view  of  the  fact  that  the  adherents  of  the  "Anti- 
Nebraska"  party  came  from  the  ranks  of  the 
hitherto  pure  and  undefiled  Democracy,  as  well 
as  from  the  moribund  Whig  party,  and  the  line 
of  cleavage  which  had  theretofore  separated  the 
Whigs  and  Democrats,  now  divided  the  Pro- 
slavery  Democrats  from  the  anti-extension  of 
slavery  element,  and  the  prejudices  became  more 
intense  and  unyielding  than  before.  An  exhibi- 
tion may  be  given  in  the  case  of  Governor  Bissell, 
who  as  a  member  of  Congress  from  Illinois  had 
electrified  all  classes  of  the  State  by  his  prompt 
defence  of  the  Illinois  brigade  in  Mexico  when 
assailed  by  Brown  of  Mississippi;  and  by  his 
equally  prompt  and  eager  acceptance  of  a  chal- 
lenge from  Jefferson  Davis,  growing  out  of  the 
same.  Every  Illinoisan  felt  a  thrill  of  pride  and 
exultation  at  this  episode,  and  especially  as  Bis- 
sell abjured  any  mock-fighting  by  naming  rifles 
at  short  range.    Yet  when  this  same  gallant  sol- 


1 64  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

dier  was  elected  as  Governor  by  the  Anti- 
Nebraska  party,  and  being  paralysed,  so  that  he 
had  to  take  the  official  oath  in  the  Executive 
Mansion,  the  pro-slavery  Democrats,  from  pure 
spleen,  put  forth  Hon.  Elijah  Pogram  to  insult 
and  vilify  this  brave  soldier,  because  he  had 
taken  the  official  oath  in  the  Executive  Mansion, 
instead  of  in  public,  the  fact  being  that  he  was 
too  disabled  by  his  wounds  to  do  otherwise. 

The  acerbity  and  illiberality  of  politics,  of 
which  this  is  a  fair  example,  were  more  pro- 
nounced in  Springfield  than  in  other  parts  of  the 
State,  because  the  politicians  from  the  whole 
State  gathered  there  and  made  a  public  exhibi- 
tion of  party  rancor  and  animosity,  and  the  citi- 
zens could  not  fail  to  imbibe  it  in  its  intensity. 
Even  before  1854,  the  political  contentions  be- 
tween the  Whigs  and  Democrats  had  been  violent 
and  wordy,  and  led  to  occasional  physical  colli- 
sions, but  the  Nebraska  Bill  increased  the  ran- 
cor, and  changed  the  combatants.  In  Springfield, 
Lincoln,  Logan,  Herndon,  Milton  Hay,  William 
Jayne,  William  Butler,  and  Cullom  adhered  to 
the  Republicans;  while  Stuart,  Broodwell, 
Springer,  and  Matteson  allied  themselves  to  the 
Democrats,  while  the  Edwardses  were  sometimes 
on  one  side  and  sometimes  on  the  other.  The 
cast  and  structure  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  mind  and  am- 
bition forbade  him  from  having  regard  for  po- 
litics having  less  than  a  national  principle ;  hence 
city  or  town  politics  had  no  charm  for  him.  In 
his  own  family  circle,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  the  most 
affectionate  and  gentle  of  men.  No  man  thought 
more  of  his  wife  and  children  than  he,  and  he 
ofttimes  was  seen  fondly  carrying  one  of  his  chil- 
dren in  his  arms  up  and  down  on  the  sidewalk 


CITIZEN  AND  NEIGHBOR  165 

before  the  house,  or  drawing  one  in  a  little  rude 
cart. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  an  excellent  citizen,  in  the 
sense  of  being  a  citizen  of  the  whole  State,  and 
ultimately  of  the  whole  nation,  although  at  the 
outset  of  his  career  his  affiliations  were  local, 
and  quadrated  with  Sangamon  County  alone. 
However,  with  expanded  experience  his  social 
and  political  horizon  expanded  and  enlarged,  and 
he  was  no  more  intimately  in  touch  or  accord 
with  the  people  of  Springfield  or  Sangamon 
County  than  with  those  in  Logan  or  McLean; 
he  considered  himself  as  much  obligated  to  the 
people  of  Danville  as  to  those  at  his  home.  In 
his  appointments  to  office,  he  wholly  ignored 
geographical  lines — even  the  local  appointments 
for  his  judicial  district  were  not  from  Spring- 
field. In  his  administration  at  Washington,  it 
was  in  principle  the  same.  He  wanted  a  Cabinet 
Minister,  Judd,  from  Illinois,  but  he  considered 
that  that  State  had  enough  consideration  in  his 
election ;  he  had  no  more  regard  in  the  matter  of 
executive  favors  for  Illinois  than  Maine ;  geo- 
graphical propinquity  and  social  propinquity  had 
no  alliance  in  his  mind ;  his  social  area  covered 
the  whole  nation ;  his  field  was  the  world.  He 
dealt  in  principles  and  institutions.  To  him,  men 
were  but  agents  or  media  to  enforce,  promulgate, 
or  originate  principles,  and  a  man's  locality  had 
naught  to  do  with  his  efficiency  in  that  regard. 
Lincoln's  highest  social  pastime  was  achieved  on 
the  circuit  with  the  "boys"  (as  we  were  termed) 
at  Court-time. 

This  catholicity  of  association,  and  consequent 
failure  to  localize  his  attachments  explain  in 
some  degree  the  lack  of  that  ardent  sympathy  for 


166  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

him  at  home  which  sometimes  cropped  out.  The 
bitterness  of  partisan  politics,  especially  on  the 
part  of  those  who  deemed  his  anti-slavery  senti- 
ments recusant  to  the  land  of  his  fathers,  aided 
this  feeling,  and  his  omission  to  recognize  his 
fellow  citizens  properly  in  the  distribution  of 
Federal  offices,  all  combined  to  produce  a  some- 
what social  alienation,  and  prevented  him  from 
being,  as  abstractly,  and  on  his  individual  merits, 
he  would  be,  an  ideally  popular  citizen.  Not  that 
he  was  unpopular,  but  he  should  have  been  popu- 
lar to  the  verge  of  enthusiasm,  as  he  was  when 
news  of  the  location  of  the  capital  at  Springfield 
reached  that  small  village. 

That  Mr.  Lincoln,  aside  from  the  prejudices 
appurtenant  to  the  slavery  question,  was  a  very 
popular  citizen  was  frequently  attested.  His  four 
several  consecutive  elections  to  the  Legislature 
attest  it;  his  immense  majority  for  Congress  on 
his  ticket  exhibits  it ;  his  being  elected  to  the  Leg- 
islature in  1854  against  his  earnest  protest  con- 
firms it. 

He  was  a  scrupulous  observer  of  the  laws,  lo- 
cal and  otherwise;  he  paid  his  debts  and  taxes 
promptly,  did  not  let  his  little  real  estate  get  on 
the  delinquent  list,  and  his  daily  walk  and  conver- 
sation among  men  were  circumspect.  He  neither 
attended  church  himself,  nor  sought  to  influence 
others  from  so  doing;  his  example  in  all  the 
minor  morals  was  excellent.  Politicians  were  ac- 
customed to  drop  in  at  saloons,  of  which  there 
were  plenty  at  Springfield  and  elsewhere  on  the 
circuit,  but  no  one  knowing  Lincoln  would  have 
dreamed  of  seeing  him  in  a  saloon  on  any  pre- 
tence. Yet  he  did  not  obtrude  a  temperance  lec- 
ture on  any  one. 


CITIZEN  AND  NEIGHBOR  167 

In  the  joint  debate  at  Ottawa,  Douglas,  in  his 
reckless  way,  averred  that  Lincoln  "could  ruin 
more  liquor  than  all  the  boys  of  the  town  put  to- 
gether"; while  the  unembellished  fact  was  that 
Lincoln  never  at  any  time  drank  any  liquor  at 
all,  and  when  he  was  younger  it  was  the  custom 
for  all  to  drink.  He  told  Swett  that  he  absolutely 
never  drank  a  drop  of  liquor  in  his  life,  and  Wil- 
liam G.  Greene's  testimony  I  give  elsewhere.  _  A 
life  on  the  frontier  is  not  conducive  to  the  reign 
of  ascetic  habits,  yet  Mr.  Lincoln  did  not  even 
embrace  the  vice  of  tobacco.  Like  all  men  on  the 
frontier  with  whom  intellect  and  its  exercise  is 
the  engrossing  quality,  and  especially  one  whose 
business  on  the  circuit  kept  him  absent  half  the 
year,  his  domestic  habits  were  irregular.  He  had 
a  habit  of  being  out  with  the  "boys,"  and  might 
be  found  frequently  at  Burnes's  grocery  at  the 
southwest  corner  of  the  public  square  entertain- 
ing the  crowd,  such  being  the  custom  of  the 
place  at  this  time,  and  Burnes's  was  a  general 
loafing-place  for  all  the  local  wits  of  the  place, 
and  was  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word  a  grocery 
— not  a  groggery. 

Mr.  Lincoln  shone  resplendently  in  an  associa- 
tion, in  a  social  sense,  with  men,  but  not  in  a  gen- 
eral company  which  likewise  included  the  fair  sex. 
Occasionally,  on  the  circuit,  we  would  be  invited 
out  to  some  social  gatherings,  and  sometimes  we 
would  force  Lincoln  along,  for  he  never  would 
gravitate  to  such  a  place  of  his  own  accord.  But 
he  would  be  ill  at  ease.  Judge  Davis  would  be 
perfectly  aa  fait  in  the  little  trivialities  and  "smorl 
tork"  demanded,  but  Lincoln  could  make  no  ef- 
fort to  shine.  In  my  own  home,  with  my  little 
family,  when  he  was  a  visitor,  he  was  at  ease, 


168  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

and  would  hold  my  children  as  fondly  as  one  of 
coarser  mould ;  but  the  presence  of  females  he 
was  not  familiar  with  abashed  him  extraordi- 
narily, especially  if  they  had  on  extra  frills  or 
tuckers.  He  was  not  a  polite  or  polished  man 
outwardly;  his  graces  and  amenities  were  of  the 
heart  and  affections.  Several  of  us  once  were 
stopping  at  Judge  Davis's,  by  invitation ;  in  his 
absence  Lincoln  was  quite  familiar  with  us  all, 
and  likewise  with  our  hostess,  who  was  a  lady 
of  rare  attainments  and  of  extreme  simplicity  of 
style  and  character.  There  was  no  margin  for 
restraint  there,  but  as  we  came  to  the  dining- 
room  for  our  first  meal,  Lincoln  adroitly  and 
suddenly  sat  down  at  a  side  of  the  table.  "Why, 
Mr.  Lincoln,"  said  the  lady  of  the  house,  "I  ex- 
pected you  to  occupy  Mr.  Davis's  place  at  the 
foot  of  the  table."  "I  thought  so,"  was  the  re- 
ply, with  a  chuckle  of  satisfaction,  "and  that's 
why  I  hurried  up  and  got  here.  Let  Whitney 
run  the  carving." 

On  the  circuit,  Swett,  Gridley,  Oliver  Davis, 
Lamon,  and  others  seemed  to  consider  that  the 
dignity  of  the  profession  required  that  they 
should  erect  some  sort  of  a  social  fence  or  bar- 
rier between  themselves  and  the  masses  that  we 
would  meet,  but  there  was  none  of  this  attempt 
at  exclusiveness  with  Lincoln.  It  was  not  infre- 
quent to  see  him,  while  Court  was  engaged  in 
something  which  did  not  concern  him,  sitting  on 
a  store  box  on  the  sidewalk,  either  entertaining, 
or  being  entertained  by,  some  of  our  villagers ; 
nor  was  there  any  affectation  or  demagogical 
art  in  this ;  it  was  in  accordance  with  his  plain, 
unaffected,  undramatic  style. 

Judge  Cunningham  narrates  that  at  our  mass- 


CITIZEN  AND  NEIGHBOR  ^9 

meeting  in  1858,  he  had  charge  of  arrangements 
on  the  ground,  and  placed  Mr.  Lincoln  at  the 
post  of  honor  at  the  guests'  table ;  when  Lincoln 
saw  an  old  lady  whom  he  called  "Granny"  Hutch- 
inson, without  a  seat,  he  insisted  that  she  take  his 
seat,  while  he  stood  up  and  munched  from  his 
hand  something  that  he  had  procured  from  the 
table. 

I  suppose  one  could  not  sanely  imagine  Daniel 
Webster  or  Rufus  Choate  appearing  before  a 
Justice  of  the  Peace  and  trying  a  case  involving 
a  few  dollars  for  a  five-dollar  fee,  yet  Mr.  Lin- 
coln did  not  disdain  to  do  that  on  our  circuit. 
"All  was  fish  that  came  into  his  net,"  and  I  have 
in  my  mind's  eye  at  this  moment  a  rudimentary 
lawyer,  who  then  was  merely  an  aspirant  to  the 
bar,  and  whose  chief  pride  and  boast  had  been 
for  thirty-five  years,  and  is  yet,  that  he  tried  a 
case  against  Lincoln  before  a  justice  in  our 
county  in  1856,  and  beat  him.  And  I  may  re- 
mark here  that  the  "justice  of  the  peace"  style 
of  trying  cases  was  more  agreeable  to  Mr.  Lin- 
coln than  any  other.  The  ancient  style  of  plead- 
ing was  "ore  temis,"  and  written  pleading  came 
later;  a  simple  verbal  statement  of  the  issues  in 
a  case  was  suited  to  Lincoln's  simplicity  of  style 
and  manner,  and  the  simplicity  attendant  upon  a 
Justice  Court  was  much  more  in  harmony  with 
his  wishes  than  the  elaboration  and  red-tape  of 
a  Court  of  Record. 

Mr.  Lincoln  did  not  meddle  with,  or  obtrude 
himself  upon,  his  neighbors  or  their  local  mat- 
ters, nor  did  he  after  1840  personally  ask  them 
to  support  him  for  office.  When  he  ran  for  Con- 
gress, his  largely  increased  vote  on  the  ticket  at 
a  previous  election  indicated  his  local  popularity, 


17°  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

and  I  have  already  said  somewhere  that  at  his 
first  candidacy  in  1832  he  secured  every  vote  in 
his  own  precinct  but  three.  Mr.  Lincoln  per- 
sonally was  a  very  popular  man ;  aside  from  po- 
litical animosities,  I  don't  think  he  did  have,  or 
could  have,  an  enemy. 

While  he  was  careless,  indifferent,  and 
"slouchy"  about  his  attire,  no  note  was  taken  of 
it  by  acquaintances ;  his  companionship  was  so 
interesting-  and  desirable  that  his  attire  was  not 
regarded.  The  same  principle  inhered  in  his  per- 
sonal appearance.  A  snob  or  dude  might  deem 
him  "homely";  no  man  or  woman  of  sensibility 
would  think  of  that  subject  in  any  way  on  ac- 
quaintance. 

Aside  from  all  politics,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  one  of 
the  most  interesting  men  I  ever  saw;  he  had  no 
envy,  malice,  or  spite — no  ill-feeling  of  any  kind 
toward  anybody ;  he  was  deferential  but  not  obse- 
quious ;  he  made  no  sarcastic  remarks.  He  em- 
ployed no  social  tyranny  to  one  in  his  power ;  he 
had  no  angularity  except  physically ;  was  not  in- 
quisitive about  the  affairs  of  others ;  was  disin- 
terested and  magnanimous,  not  supercilious  or 
discourteous ;  was  generous  and  forgiving  to  a 
fault.  He  was  not  only  sincere  and  candid,  but 
he  assured  you  by  his  conduct  that  he  was  so; 
his  actions  towards  men  symbolized  his  be- 
lief that  the  greatest  of  the  social  virtues  was 
charity.  Every  social  element  was  agreeable.  No 
true  man  ever  had  cause  to  repent  his  acquaint- 
ance ;  in  the  extremely  rare  cases  of  those  who 
disliked  him  on  other  than  political  grounds,  the 
party  offended  was  of  a  narrow,  illiberal  order ;  the 
fault  certainly  could  not  be  laid  at  the  door 
of    generous    Abraham    Lincoln.     Of    him    the 


CITIZEN  AND  NEIGHBOR  171 

classic  eulogium  may  in  sober  truth  be  said  with- 
out hyperbole : 

Neither   the   ardor   of  citizens   ordering  base  things, 
nor  the  face  of  the  threatening  tyrant,   shakes  a  man, 
just  and  tenacious  of  principle,  from  his  firm  intentions. 
—Third  Ode  of  Horace,  Book  III. 


CHAPTER  X 

LAWYER 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  not  well  grounded  in  the 
principles  of  law,  nor  was  he  a  well-read  lawyer. 
He  had  an  intuitive  sense  of  abstract  justice,  but 
he  had  no  conception  of  rules,  technicalities,  or 
limitations ;  he  knew  nothing  of  decisions,  except 
such  as  came  with  his  own  experience ;  he  did 
not  approve  of  being  hampered  by  precedents; 
to  him,  estoppals  were  unjust;  he  had  no  patience 
with  technicalities  as  such,  desiring  to  consider 
every  case  as  disconnected  with  all  else,  and  to 
be  tried  on  its  abstract  and  unencumbered  merits 
alone. 

While  lawyers  of  small  abilities  would  array 
a  list  of  authorities  to  support  their  contention, 
Lincoln  would  try  to  establish  his  by  logic.  His 
strength  as  a  lawyer  lay  in  his  analytical  and 
reasoning  faculties,  i.e.,  he  could  apperceive  the 
matter  at  issue  and  deduce  the  true  conclusion 
from  it  with  as  much  facility  and  strength  as  he 
could  achieve  the  same  results  from  moral 
questions. 

A  lawyer  has  a  right — in  fact,  it  is  the  present 
mode  of  law  practice — to  use  the  labors  of  the 
profession,  and  appropriate  former  decisions  to 
enforce  his  views.  Lincoln  did  this,  of  course,  but 
only  subordinate  to  his  own  logical  considera- 
tion of  the  case;  hence  the  labors  of  those  who 

172 


LAWYER  173 

preceded  him  were  not  of  nearly  the  same  value 
to  him  as  to  his  adversary.  However,  when  it 
came  to  cases  with  no  well-defined  precedent, 
then  it  was  that  Lincoln  had  a  powerful  advan- 
tage, for  he  had  no  superior,  certainly,  and  but 
very  few  equals,  at  our  bar  in  original  reason- 
ing. Take  it  all  in  all,  he  had  probably  only 
one  superior  as  a  lawyer  in  our  circuit,  viz. :  Ste- 
phen T.  Logan. 

In  a  rough-and-tumble  practice  on  the  circuit, 
where  advocacy  was  relied  on  rather  than  exact 
knowledge  or  application  of  legal  principles,  he 
was  especially  effective.  He  had  a  frank  and 
cordial  way  of  dealing  with  witnesses,  and  his 
memory  was  of  a  methodical  cast;  he  recollected 
the  evidence  as  it  accrued,  and  assigned  each 
element  thereof  to  its  proper  room,  hall,  or  vesti- 
bule in  his  memory,  to  be  withdrawn  when  need- 
ful, for  use. 

He  was  courteous  yet  skilful  in  cross-examina- 
tion, and  had  a  faculty  of  so  cajoling  a  witness 
as  to  make  him  (as  my  father  once  put  it)  say 
just  what  he  wanted  him  to  say.  His  candor 
and  honesty  were  very  effective  weapons  for  suc- 
cess. A  statement  made  by  Lincoln  was  almost 
invariably  accepted  as  correct ;  and  I  have  on 
more  than  one  occasion  known  of  a  case  with  in- 
tricate details  being  made  to  appear  so  clear  on 
both  sides,  by  Lincoln's  lucid  and  comprehensive 
statement,  as  to  be  very  much  simplified,  if  not, 
indeed,  as  was  sometimes  the  case,  made  ready 
on  both  sides  for  the  decision  without  argument. 

Mr.  Lincoln  contemned  useless  or  irrelevant 
litigation ;  he  had  little  patience  with  tort  cases 
or  with  technical  defences.  He  was  much  an- 
noyed at  dilatory  tactics  or  preliminary  skirmish- 


174  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

ing  for  advantage,  he  disliked  long  drawn-out 
trials,  and  desired  quickly  obtained  results ;  he 
was  fond  of  settlements  and  compromises,  when 
the  parties  themselves  would  move  in  the  mat- 
ter, but  if  the  litigation  was  wholly  useless,  he 
would  move  in  the  matter  himself. 

He  would  always  give  a  perfectly  fair  and  can- 
did opinion  as  to  the  merits  of  a  case  and  the 
probability  of  success,  and  would  not  enter  into 
a  case  he  knew  to  be  dishonest.  In  a  case,  how- 
ever, where  the  dishonesty  was  developed  dur- 
ing the  trial,  he  would  simply  do  what  he  hon- 
estly could  for  success,  and  no  more.  I  have 
known  him  to  injure  a  case,  when  he  became  con- 
vinced during  the  trial  that  he  was  on  the  dis- 
honest or  unjust  side  of  it. 

His  view  of  morals  was  broad  and  catholic ; 
his  integrity  was  not  confined  to  any  special  line 
or  particular  mode ;  to  him,  there  should  be  a 
quid  pro  quo  in  all  social  attrition  or  mercantile 
dealing.  To  charge  too  much  for  a  thing  was,  to 
his  view,  dishonest;  to  gain  a  lawsuit  by  sophis- 
try or  chicanery  equally  so.  The  basis  of  his  hos- 
tility to  slavery  was  his  consciousness  of  its  dis- 
honesty, in  exacting  service  for  nothing,  and  of 
its  injustice  in  coercing  and  enslaving  men.  Al- 
though he  was  philanthropic  toward  his  own 
race,  he  had  no  feelings  of  philanthropy  toward 
the  black  race,  but  only  the  feeling  that  injustice 
should  not  be  visited  upon  them. 

He  had  this  marked  peculiarity,  that,  although 
he  was  one  of  the  most  amiable  and  courteous  of 
associates  in  a  case,  yet  he  pursued  his  own  in- 
dependent course  in  his  share,  whatever  it  was, 
of  its  management,  nor  would  he  reveal  his  de- 
signs in  the  least  degree  to  his  colleagues.     I 


'LAWYER  175 

have,  on  many  occasions,  held  consultations  with 
him  in  which  I  would  get  no  hint  from  him  as 
to  his  views  or  designs  about  the  case.  On  one 
occasion,  Swett  and  I  sat  on  a  bench  in  the  ex- 
treme rear  of  the  courtroom  while  Lincoln  closed 
to  the  jury  on  our  side,  and  we  were  utterly 
astonished  at  the  cruel  mode  in  which  he  applied 
the  knife  to  all  of  the  fine-spun  theories  we  had 
crammed  the  jury  with. 

He  was  extremely  accommodating  and  cour- 
teous to  his  adversary,  and  likewise  to  the  ad- 
verse witnesses,  provided  they  told  the  truth ; 
but  woe  to  them  if  they  falsified !  for  he  had  no 
charity  for  falsehood  anywhere,  least  of  all  for 
exhibitions  of  it  on  the  witness  stand,  and  the 
logical  structure  of  his  mind  afforded  him  the 
means  to  detect  falsehood,  almost  inevitably.  He 
would  brook  no  insult  or  sarcasm  from  an  op- 
ponent, but  he  never  unfairly  or  uncharitably 
presumed  that  an  insult  was  intended.  He 
waived  all  mere  technicalities  and  minor  and  in- 
consequential matters ;  conceded  in  advance  all 
that  he  knew  could  be  as  well  proved ;  gathered 
up  the  essential  matters  in  a  bunch,  and  rested 
his  case  upon  them. 

The  consideration  and  trial  of  cases  was  to 
him  matter-of-fact  responsible  labor;  he  intro- 
duced no  pleasantry  or  quips  therein,  but  soberly 
and  discreetly  arrayed  all  advantages  orderly,  for 
his  side  of  the  case.  He  studied  both  sides  of 
his  case,  and  considered  the  course  of  tactics 
which  his  opponent  would  probably  pursue,  quite 
as  thoroughly  as  he  considered  his  own.  Noth- 
ing moved  or  excited  him  in  the  course  of  a  trial ; 
he  presented  the  same  calm,  placid,  and  im- 
perturbable exterior  when  disaster  frowned,  as 


176  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

when  good  fortune  smiled,  upon  the  career  of  a 
case. 

We  had  a  client  once  who  took  occasion  to 
complain  to  me  about  alleged  unsatisfactory  man- 
agement of  a  case.  I  asked  Lincoln  to  placate 
him,  as  I  could  not.  "Let  him  howl,"  was  the 
reply  I  got,  after  a  moment's  deliberation. 

He  minded  his  own  business  better  than  any 
lawyer  I  ever  saw ;  he  stuck  to  his  case,  or  to  his 
part  of  it,  and  rendered  no  advice  to  any  one  else 
about  his  or  their  duties,  but  he  performed  his 
functions  independently  and  sni  generis,  and  let 
the  responsibility  of  others'  actions  rest  upon 
themselves.  Considering  the  magnitude  of  my 
early  business  at  the  bar,  I  was  a  careless  law- 
yer, and  often  drew  upon  myself  the  reproofs 
of  older  colleagues,  but  never  from  Lincoln.  In 
our  joint  cases,  of  which  there  were  many,  he 
did  the  best  he  could  for  the  case  in  hand,  plus 
the  difficulty  caused  by  my  affirmatively  bad 
management,  or  minus  the  advantage  that  proper 
management  on  my  part  would  have  secured. 

To  the  "mint,  anise,  and  cummin"  of  a  case, 
he  was  indifferent.  Whether  the  pleadings  were 
artistic  or  inartistic ;  whether  the  formal  facts 
had  been  sufficiently  established,  etc.,  he  cared 
nothing,  and  attempted  no  advantage  thereby ;  he 
wanted  no  less  a  fight  than  on  the  merits. 

No  matter  how  eventful  or  exciting  a  trial  was, 
he  remained  entirely  calm,  unexcited,  imper- 
turbable; you  could  not  discern  by  his  manner 
that  he  had  the  slightest  tinge  either  of  trepida- 
tion or  enthusiasm,  but  he  remained  inflexible 
and  stoical  to  the  last.  Once  I  had  an  impor- 
tant railroad  suit  that  I  secured  his  aid  in,  and  as 
the  able  counsel  on  the  other  side  was  dealing 


LAWYER  177 

out  heavy  "wisdom  licks"  at  us,  I  got  alarmed, 
and  spoke  to  Lincoln  about  it;  he  sat  inflexibly- 
calm  and  serene,  and  merely  remarked :  "All  that 
is  very  easily  answered,"  and  when  his  time 
came,  he  blew  away  what  seemed  to  me  as  al- 
most an  unaswerable  argument  as  easily  as  a 
beer-drinker  blows  off  the  froth  from  his  foaming 
tankard. 

Through  his  accurate  perceptions,  he  would 
discern  what  was  genuine  and  what  was  sophisti- 
cal ;  many  a  time  have  I  seen  him  tear  the  mask 
off  from  a  fallacy  and  shame  both  the  fallacy 
and  its  author.  In  a  railway  case  we  were  try- 
ing, the  opposing  lawyer  tried  to  score  a  point 
by  stating  that  the  plaintiff  was  a  flesh-and-blood 
man,  with  a  soul  like  the  jurymen  had,  while  our 
client  was  a  soulless  corporation.  Lincoln  re- 
plied thus :  "Counsel  avers  that  his  client  has  a 
soul.  This  is  possible,  but  from  the  way  he  has 
testified  under  oath  in  this  case,  to  gain,  or 
hope  to  gain,  a  few  paltry  dollars,  he  would  sell, 
nay,  has  already  sold,  his  little  soul  very  low. 
But  our  client  is  but  a  conventional  name  for 
thousands  of  widows  and  orphans  whose  hus- 
bands' and  parents'  hard  earnings  are  repre- 
sented by  this  defendant,  and  who  possess  souls 
which  they  would  not  swear  away  as  the  plain- 
tiff has  done  for  ten  million  times  as  much  as  is 
at  stake  here." 

He  did  not,  as  a  rule,  "play  to  the  pit"  in  his 
addresses  to  the  jury,  but  simply  confined  himself 
closely  to  his  case.  However,  I  recollect  once 
in  the  evening  at  Urbana,  Lincoln  was  arguing 
a  case,  when  some  ladies  came  in,  and  we  made 
room  for  them  within  the  bar,  which  caused  a 
little  commotion,  and  Lincoln  said :  "I  perceive, 


178  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

gentlemen,  that  you  are  like  all  the  rest  of  the 
fellers  in  your  admiration  of  the  fair  sex — in 
fact,  I  think,  from  appearances,  that  you  are  a 
little  worse  than  the  common  run,"  and  he  added 
something  else  that  provoked  laughter;  and  he 
waited  a  minute  and  then  said  patronizingly : 
"Now,  boys,  behave  yourselves,"  and  went  on 
with  his  argument. 

I  have  heretofore  adverted  to  his  intellectual 
honesty,  and,  of  course,  by  that  I  do  not  mean 
his  acumen  or  intellectual  grasp  and  vigor  of 
mind.  It  is  common  to  have  intellectual  power. 
Webster  had  that  in  a  marked  degree,  but  he 
was  not  intellectually  honest,  and  hence  we  find 
him  in  history  advocating  free  trade  in  1816,  and 
a  high  tariff  in  1836.  He  is  seen  working  hand 
in  hand  with  the  friends  of  freedom  anterior  to 
1850  and  abnegating  his  record  on  the  7th  of 
March.  That  "honesty  is  the  best  policy"  was 
well  established  in  the  career  and  empty  results 
of  the  life  of  this  man  so  great  intellectually  and 
so  essentially  feeble  morally ;  and  in  the  career 
and  fruitful  results  of  the  life  of  Abraham  Lin- 
coln, as  seen  in  his  great  mission,  its  faithful  per- 
formance, and  his  immortal  fame.  A  man  of  the 
former  class,  of  which,  alas !  there  are  too  many 
in  our  history,  is  equally  at  home  in  arguing 
either  in  unison  with,  or  contrary  to,  his  con- 
victions ;  it  is  simply  a  little  more  difficult  to  ar- 
gue dishonestly  than  honestly — that  is  all  with 
him.  But  it  was  morally  impossible  for  Lincoln 
to  argue  dishonestly ;  he  could  no  more  do  it  than 
he  could  steal ;  it  was  the  same  thing  to  him  in 
essence,  to  despoil  a  man  of  his  property  by  lar- 
ceny, or  by  illogical  or  flagitious  reasoning;  and 
even  to  defeat  a  suitor  by  technicalities  or  by 


LAWYER  179 

merely  arbitrary  law  savored  strongly  of  dishon- 
esty to  him. 

Lincoln  was  usually  very  mild,  benign,  and 
accommodating  in  his  practice  on  the  circuit ; 
but  occasionally  he  would  get  pugnacious.  "Oh ! 
No!  No!!  No!!!"  said  Mc Williams  once,  in  a 
trial,  to  a  witness,  who  was  straying  beyond  the 
domain  of  legitimate  evidence,  as  he  thought. 
"Oh  !  yes  !  Yes  ! !  YES  ! ! !"  shouted  Lincoln,  look- 
ing daggers  at  McWilliams,  who  quailed  under 
Lincoln's  determined  look. 

He  gave  but  the  slightest  attention  to  rules 
of  evidence,  and  rarely  objected  to  the  admission 
of  anything  at  all  allowable ;  he  could  not  endure 
those  illiberal  practices  required  at  the  hands  of 
the  complete  lawyer;  he  could  not  practice  or 
countenance  that  selfishness  which  the  require- 
ments of  good  practice  demanded.  All  the  gen- 
eralizations of  his  mind  tended  to  frankness,  fair- 
ness, and  the  attainment  of  substantial  justice, 
and  the  simplest  mode  was  to  him  the  best.  In 
entering  upon  a  trial,  he  stated  the  whole  case 
on  both  sides,  as  he  understood  it,  with  fairness 
and  frankness,  not  attempting  to  gloss  over  the 
faults  and  imperfections  of  his  own  case,  or  to 
improperly  disparage  the  adverse  side. 

But  when  the  strain  came,  Lincoln  was  very 
apt  to  bear  down  heavily  on  his  adversary's  case, 
and  a  novice  who  presumed  much  on  Lincoln's 
graces  and  amenities  as  the  case  was  being  de- 
veloped, frequently  found  himself  in  the  lurch 
when  the  crisis  was  reached. 

I  once  brought  suit  on  a  Kentucky  judgment, 
and  Lincoln,  with  others,  was  employed  to  de- 
fend. Oliver  L.  Davis,  who  was  with  Lincoln, 
taunted  me  before  trial  that  they  not  only  would 


180  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

defeat,  but  would  make  me  ridiculous.  I  ap- 
pealed to  Lincoln,  who  comforted  me  by  saying : 
"Don't  you  mind  Oliver;  it  is  merely  like  any 
other  case,  and  I'll  see,  at  least,  that  there  is  no 
ridicule  about  it" ;  but  when  we  went  into  trial, 
and  the  thermometer  of  the  case  got  up  to  96 
degrees  in  the  shade,  Lincoln  went  for  me  and 
my  case  as  vigorously  as  the  others,  and  I  was 
entirely  alone  against  all  the  talent  of  that  end 
of  the  circuit.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  I  was 
gloriously  beaten. 

Lincoln's  guileless  exterior  concealed  a  great 
fund  of  shrewdness  and  common  sense  about  or- 
dinary matters,  as  well  as  genius  in  the  higher 
realms. 

I  remember  once,  that  while  several  of  us  law- 
yers were  together,  including  Judge  Davis,  Lin- 
coln suddenly  asked  a  novel  question  of  court 
practice,  addressed  to  no  one  particularly,  to 
which  the  Judge,  who  was  in  the  habit,  certainly, 
of  appropriating  his  full  share  of  any  conversa- 
tion, replied,  stating  what  he  understood  the 
practice  should  be. 

Lincoln  thereat  laughed  and  said :  "I  asked 
that  question,  hoping  that  you  would  answer.  I 
have  that  very  question  to  present  to  the  Court 
in  the  morning,  and  I  am  glad  to  find  out  that 
the  Court  is  on  my  side." 

When  Lincoln  desired  to  make  an  extra  good 
effort,  or  when  he  had  a  difficult  case,  he  would 
be  missing — he  would  hide  somewhere,  and  by 
self-introspection  mature  his  plans.  He  did  not 
have  any  particular  place  to  hide — the  unused 
back  room  of  a  law  office,  or  an  obscure  corner 
of  the  Clerk's  office,  or  a  lonely  bedroom  of  the 
travelling  bar,  the  streets  of  the  village,  or  the 


LAWYER  181 

woods,  were  alike  serviceable  and  equally  put  in 
requisition  by  him.  He  had  a  talent  for  em- 
bracing the  whole  scope  and  plan  and  all  essen- 
tial details  of  a  case  within  the  area  of  his  mind, 
in  an  orderly  and  systematic  manner.  He  took 
no  notes  and  made  no  memoranda,  and  rarely, 
if  ever,  made  any  mistake  in  referring  to  the  evi- 
dence, in  his  argument. 

The  petty  advantages  on  his  side  in  a  case,  he 
did  not  urge  with  any  force  or  pertinacity,  but 
arrayed  his  strongest  points  and  relied  exclu- 
sively on  them.  His  ability  to  separate  impor- 
tant and  controlling  matters  from  those  which 
were  secondary,  was  marked,  and  showed  great 
analytical  skill;  he  abhorred  that  style  of  prac- 
tice which  attributed  unworthy  motives  to  an  ad- 
versary, or  enforced  technicalities  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  justice  or  progress.  He  allowed  to  ad- 
verse evidence  or  argument  their  fullest  value 
and  importance ;  never  sought  to  disparage  or 
"damn  with  faint  praise"  an  opponent  or  his 
arguments,  and  in  minor  and  inconsequential 
points,  would  help  his  adversary  along,  and  this 
especially  if  he  was  a  young  practitioner.  In 
trying  a  case  before  the  court,  without  a  jury,  he 
would  summarize  the  case  as  impartially  on  both 
sides  as  the  impartial  judge  could  do  it  himself; 
no  matter  what  the  case  was,  he  would  get  pos- 
session of  the  facts,  and  form  his  own  conclu- 
sions upon  them  without  any  extraneous  aid  or 
suggestions.  In  formulating  his  mode  of  treat- 
ment, he  gave  little  attention  to  technicalities  or 
any  advantage  to  be  derived  therefrom ;  his  guid- 
ing star  was  not  expediency  but  principle;  not 
coigns  of  vantage  but  justice.  He  made  no  pre- 
tensions to  anything  beyond  circuit  court  ability, 


1 82  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

yet  he  was  occasionally  employed  in  important 
cases  outside,  and  not  infrequently  went  to  Chi- 
cago, and  once  or  twice  to  Cincinnati  on  business 
connected  with  a  patent  suit.* 

The  last  case  he  ever  tried  was  an  important 
case  involving  the  question  of  accretion,  in  which 
he  took  the  lead  on  our  side,  and  argued  the  ques- 
tion, so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  on  original  prin- 
ciples and  with  great  ability.  This  case  was  tried 
in  March  and  decided  early  in  April,  somewhat 
less  than  two  months  before  the  assembling  of 
the  "Wigwam"  convention.  It  is  somewhat  sin- 
gular that  the  senior  opposing  counsel  to  Mr. 
Lincoln  was  Hon.  Buckner  S.  Morris,  who  had 
been  a  leading  lawyer  in  Chicago,  and  who  was 
afterwards  Treasurer  of  the  "Sons  of  Liberty," 
and  who  was  tried  by  a  court-martial  at  Cincin- 
nati during  the  war  on  a  charge  of  being  involved 
in  the  Camp  Douglas  conspiracy,  of  which  he 
was  acquitted.  In  point  of  fact,  Mr.  Morris  read 
law  with  Henry  Clay  at  Lexington  at  the  same 
time  that  Mary  Todd,  who  became  Mr.  Lincoln's 
wife,  was  a  schoolgirl  there.  I  may,  however, 
say  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  an  uneven  lawyer — that 
his  best  results  were  achieved  as  a  result  of  long 
and  continuous  reflection ;  the  various  elements 
of  a  case  did  not  group  themselves  in  apt  and 
proper  position  and  order  in  his  mind  on  first 
impression ;  hence  he  was  not  as  self-reliant  in  a 
new  case  as  in  one  he  had  fully  discussed  and 


*  This  suit  was  McCormick  vs.  Manny.  William  H. 
Seward,  Reverdy  Johnson,  Edward  N.  Dickinson,  and 
Isaac  N.  Arnold  were  for  complainant ;  and  Edwin  M. 
Stanton,  George  F.  Harding,  and  Abraham  Lincoln 
were  for  defendant. 


LAWYER  *%3 

decided  in  his  own  mind,  and  his  first  impressions 
in  a  case  were  not  his  best  ones. 

He  did  not  disdain  any  association,  and  lis- 
tened to  all  suggestions  from  those  associated 
with  him  with  patience  and  deference,  and  gave 
as  much  weight  to  a  good  suggestion  from  a 
novice  as  from  a  veteran.  In  a  hard  case,  how- 
ever, he  was  eager  for  good  auxiliary  connec- 
tions, and  Leonard  Swett  was  his  favorite  in  a 
difficult  jury  case.  Lincoln  was  preeminently  a 
man  of  peace,  and  discountenanced  all  litigation 
whose  origin,  vital  principle,  or  main  auxiliary 
was  vengeance,  ill-feeling.  He  promoted  and 
favored  all  compromises, as  I  have  said, but  asked 
no  quarter  or  favors,  and  fought  to  the  bitter 
end  all  contested  cases  not  susceptible  of 
accommodation. 

His  imperturbability  was  one  of  his  strong 
points ;  the  only  excitement  he  ever  betrayed  in 
court  was  when  he  got  righteously  indignant  at 
the  actions  of  some  one  in  a  case — then  he  was 
terrible  in  his  wrath ;  he  has  been  known  (though 
rarely)  to  transcend  the  bounds  of  decorum  on 
such  occasions.  While,  as  a  lawyer,  he  was  not 
great,  yet  he  admired  a  great  lawyer  and  de- 
spised a  charlatan  with  a  high  reputation.  He 
once  told  me  that  John  McLean,  United  States 
Supreme  Judge,  had  considerable  vigor  of  mind, 
but  no  acuteness  of  discernment  at  all ;  he  also 
said  to  me  of  Archibald  Williams,  whom  he  made 
United  States  Judge  in  Kansas,  that  he  had  more 
ability  to  discuss  law  questions  to  learned  law- 
yers than  any  lawyer  he  knew.  Of  Judge  T. 
Lyle  Dickey,  he  said :  "He  can  draw  such  fine 
distinctions  where  I  can't  see  any  distinction,  yet 
I  have  no  doubt  a  distinction  does  exist." 


1 84  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

He  studied  the  character  and  ability  of  Lord 
Bacon,  and  was  greatly  charmed  with  it.  "But 
how  about  his  taking  bribes  ?"  I  asked  him.  "He 
did  take  bribes,  but  never  made  any  change  in 
his  decision,"  was  the  reply.  It  struck  me  as 
strange.  Bacon's  transcendent  ability  seemed  to 
condone,  in  Lincoln's  estimation,  his  flagitious 
conduct. 

He  charged  insignificant  fees.  The  first  really 
adequate  fee  I  ever  knew  him  to  charge  was 
$5000  for  trying  the  case  of  The  Illinois  Central 
Railroad  Company  vs.  McLean  and  Champaign 
Counties.  The  railway  claimed  that  the  land 
comprised  within  its  land  grant  was  not  taxable 
till  a  patent  issued;  while  the  counties  claimed 
that  they  were  taxable  as  soon  as  they  were  al- 
lotted. A  formal  decision  was  rendered  by  the 
lower  court,  and  the  case  argued  before  the  Su- 
preme Court  at  Springfield.  There  were  three  sev- 
eral counsel :  Lincoln  and  Herndon,  James  F.  Joy 
of  Detroit,  and  Mason  Brayman.  Joy  was  an  in- 
flential  railway  lawyer,  with  a  great  influence  and 
an  exalted  opinion  of  himself,  and,  although  it  is 
probable  that  Lincoln  did  the  most  effective  serv- 
ice, it  was  quite  natural  for  Joy  to  disparage 
Lincoln's  efforts,  and  he  did,  in  fact,  do  so.  Ac- 
cordingly, when  his  bill  came  in  and  Joy  had  to 
audit  it,  he  not  only  disallowed  it,  but  spoke  con- 
temptuously of  its  author  as  a  "common  country 
lawyer."  Lincoln  then  sued  in  the  McLean  Cir- 
cuit Court,  and,  somehow,  no  defence  being 
made,  a  default  was  taken.  Lincoln,  however, 
allowed  the  default  to  be  set  aside  and  the  case 
set  down  for  trial.  John  M.  Douglass,  then  our 
solicitor,  consulted  with  me  about  the  matter;  I 
said  that  even  if  the  amount  was  too  large,  we 


LAWYER  185 

could  not  afford  to  have  Lincoln  as  our  enemy, 
instead  of  an  ally,  on  the  circuit,  and  I  insisted 
further,  and  with  greater  force,  that  he  would 
beat  us  anyhow,  both  in  the  circuit  and  Supreme 
Courts.  Douglass  paid  the  fee.  (Somehow, 
plain  as  this  case  is,  it  has  never  been  correctly 
stated  by  any  historian.) 

Mr.  Lincoln  never  let  his  diversion  obtrude 
upon  the  serious  business  of  his  law  practice,  but 
he  felt  the  responsibility  and  gravity  of  his  posi- 
tion, and  entered  into  all  trials  with  the  atten- 
tion, dignity,  and  decorum  demanded;  he  would 
sometimes  score  a  point  by  fun  in  some  way,  but 
he  did  not  resort  to  pleasantry  to  the  detriment 
of  his  case. 

In  the  long  run  his  honesty,  and,  more  particu- 
larly, his  reputation  therefor,  was  a  great  and 
potent  factor  for  success.  When  he  made  a  state- 
ment for  judicial  or  forensic  action,  it  carried 
weight  and  authority.  He  stated  nothing  mor- 
ally impossible ;  his  demeanor  was  that  of  per- 
sonified honesty;  and  his  reputation  was  a  letter 
of  recommendation,  convincing,  if  not  con- 
clusive. 

After  his  death,  the  Nestors  of  the  Illinois 
bench  and  bar,  and  lawyers  and  judges  of  high 
and  low  degree,  grave  and  sedate  men  with  no 
imagination  or  fancy,  spoke  in  eulogy  of  him. 
There  was  not  the  slightest  diversity  of  opinion 
on  either  his  honesty  or  ability ;  and  the  apparent 
disparagement  of  Judge  Davis  that  Lincoln  had 
no  managing  faculty  nor  organizing  power  in  a 
case  and  that  a  child  could  conform  to  simple 
and  technical  rules  better  than  he,  was  not  liter- 
ally true.  The  whole  truth  is  that  Lincoln  did 
not   grovel   amid  the   minor   trivialities   of   the 


1 86  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

technical,  but  reigned  amid  the  stars  of  the  im- 
mutable and  eternal  principles  of  justice. 

Isaac  N.  Arnold,  one  of  the  leaders  of  the 
Chicago  bar,  delivered  a  lecture  before  the  Illi- 
nois Bar  Association  on  January  7,  1881,  in 
course  of  which  he  said  of  Mr.  Lincoln : 

"In  any  courtroom  in  the  United  States,  he  would 
have  been  instantly  picked  out  as  a  Western  man.  His 
stature,  figure,  dress,  manner,  voice,  and  accent  indi- 
cated that  he  was  of  the  Northwest.  In  manner,  he 
was  always  cordial  and  frank,  and,  although  not  with- 
out dignity,  he  made  every  person  feel  quite  at  his  ease. 
I  think  the  first  impression  a  stranger  would  get  of  him, 
whether  in  conversation  or  by  hearing  him  speak,  was 
that  here  was  a  kind,  frank,  sincere,  genuine  man  of 
transparent  truthfulness  and  integrity;  and  before  Lin- 
coln had  uttered  many  words,  he  would  be  impressed 
with  his  clear,  good  sense,  his  remarkably  simple, 
homely  but  expressive  Saxon  language,  and  next  by  his 
wonderful  wit  and  humor.  Lincoln  was  more  familiar 
with  the  Bible  than  any  other  book  in  the  language ; 
and  this  was  apparent  both  from  his  style  and  illus- 
trations, so  often  taken  from  that  book.  He  verified 
the  maxim  that  it  is  better  to  know  thoroughly  a  few 
good  books,  than  to  read  many." 

While  I  cannot  think,  with  any  idea  of  pro- 
priety, of  Lincoln  sitting  as  a  Judge,  it  yet  seems 
to  me  that  if  he  had  been  made  a  successor  of 
John  Marshall,  he  would,  by  his  moral  and  log- 
ical acquirements,  have  achieved  as  great  re- 
nown, in  spite  of  his  lack  of  the  judicial  tem- 
perament. 

Lincoln's  partnership  with  John  T.  Stuart 
commenced  in  March,  1837,  and  ended  on  April 
14,  1841,  when  he  formed  a  partnership  with 
Judge  Stephen  T.  Logan,  who  had  previously 
been  the  Circuit  Judge,  and  was  then  the  best 
lawyer  in  the  State.    The  firm  of  Logan  &  Lin- 


LAWYER  187 

coin  lasted  till  the  early  spring  of  1843,  when  Lin- 
coln withdrew  on  account  of  some  little  feeling, 
growing  out  of  the  political  canvass  for  Con- 
gress, both  partners  then  being  aspirants.  Wil- 
liam H.  Herndon  had  just  commenced  to  practise, 
and  he  was  not  only  a  young  man  of  promise, 
but  his  family  was  very  extensive,  of  great  re- 
spectability, and  highly  influential.  Lincoln, 
therefore,  proposed  a  partnership,  which  Hern- 
don gladly  accepted.  It  lasted  eighteen  years, 
and  during  the  entire  term  no  accounts  were 
kept,  and  not  a  word  of  dispute  ever  occurred 
between  the  partners. 

After  Lincoln  became  Logan's  partner,  he  did 
not  venture  far  from  home  to  practise ;  he  did, 
however,  attend  Menard  County,  that  embracing 
the  region  of  country  which  had  been  the  theatre 
of  his  surveying  and  early  political  operations, 
and  where,  therefore,  he  had  a  large  and  favor- 
able acquaintance.  After  his  partnership  com- 
menced with  Herndon,  he  extended  his  circuit 
business  somewhat,  but  still  did  not  attempt  to 
achieve  a  general  practice  on  the  circuit.  Enter- 
ing into  politics  in  1846,  and  being  absent  in 
Washington  for  a  considerable  part  of  two  years, 
his  practice  was  very  much  broken  in  upon — in 
fact,  was  largely  dissipated  and  lost. 

His  comparative  failure  in  Congress  induced  in 
him  a  belief  that  he  was  not  adapted  to  politics, 
and,  besides,  his  finances  had  become  somewhat 
attenuated  by  its  pursuit.  The  result  was  a  more 
general  and  systematic  application  to  the  prac- 
tice of  law.  Accordingly,  he  began  to  travel 
the  entire  circuit  with  Judge  Davis,  the  circuit 
then  being  denominated  the  Eighth,  and  embrac- 
ing the  counties  of  Sangamon,  Logan,  Tazewell, 


1 88  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

Woodford,  McLean,  Champaign,  Vermilion, 
Edgar,  Coles,  Piatt,  Macon,  De  Witt,  Shelby, 
Moultrie,  and  Christian. 

In  those  early  days,  it  should  not  be  forgotten, 
the  law  business  was  not  only  very  meagre,  but 
quite  informal ;  cases  were  not  then  decided  upon 
authority,  as  I  have  said,  so  much  as  upon  log- 
ical consideration.  Lincoln  gained  friends  at 
once ;  politics  and  law  were  closely  entwined,  and 
political  prejudice  was  quite  as  intense  then  as 
it  ever  was.  Lincoln  had  been  the  only  Whig 
from  Illinois  in  the  Congress  of  1847-48,  and  par- 
tisans of  his  faith  on  the  circuit  were  likely  to 
cleave  to  him  both  as  parties  and  jurors.  His 
story-telling  propensities  stood  him  in  good  stead, 
and  yielded  a  large  following  of  admirers.  He 
was  more  thoroughly  advertised  on  the  circuit 
through  the  media  of  his  anecdotes  than  by  either 
his  Congressional  experience  or  his  law  practice. 
Law  practice  was  more  difficult  then  than  now 
by  reason  of  the  dearth  of  authority,  and  of  the 
method  then  in  vogue  of  reasoning  out  cases  upon 
primordial  and  original  principles.  As  a  conse- 
quence, young  men  counted  for  little  in  law  prac- 
tice in  contested  cases,  and  the  habit  was  general 
to  employ  leaders  on  the  circuit  in  anything 
which  savored  of  a  contested  case.  There  was 
not,  at  that  time,  any  lawyer  who  travelled  over 
the  entire  circuit.  Logan  rarely  left  his  own 
county ;  Stuart  attended  only  Tazewell ;  Logan 
and  McLean,  the  Macon  lawyers,  went  only  to 
Piatt;  Swett  and  Gridley  attended  McLean.,  De 
Witt,  Champaign,  and  Vermilion ;  Scott  of  Mc- 
Lean went  only  to  the  northern  counties ;  and 
Moore  of  De  Witt  limited  his  practice  to  his  own 
county  and  McLean. 


LAWYER  *%9 

Courts  lasted  nearly  six  months  in  the  year, 
and  the  judge  and  lawyers  generally  contrived 
to  spend  as  many  Sabbaths  at  home  as  they  could. 
Lincoln  did  not  join  in  this  effort,  but,  contrari- 
wise, when  he  set  out  on  a  tour  of  the  circuit, 
generally  continued  until  the  end.  Nothing  could 
be  duller  than  remaining  on  the  Sabbath  in  a 
country  inn  of  that  time  after  adjournment  of 
court.  Good  cheer  had  expended  its  force  during 
court  week,  and  blank  dulness  succeeded ;  but 
Lincoln  would  entertain  the  few  lingering  rousta- 
bouts of  the  barroom  with  as  great  zest,  appar- 
ently, as  he  had  previously  entertained  the  court 
and  bar,  and  then  would  hitch  up  his  horse,  "Old 
Tom,"  as  he  was  called,  and,  solitary  and  alone, 
ride  off  to  the  next  term  in  course.  One  would 
naturally  suppose  that  the  leading  lawyer  of  the 
circuit,  in  a  pursuit  which  occupied  nearly  half 
his  time,  would  make  himself  comfortable,  but 
he  did  not.  His  horse  was  as  rawboned  and 
weird-looking  as  himself,  and  his  buggy,  an  open 
one,  as  rude  as  either ;  his  attire  was  that  of  an 
ordinary  farmer  or  stock-raiser,  while  the  sum- 
total  of  his  baggage  consisted  of  a  very  attenu- 
ated carpetbag,  an  old  weather-beaten  umbrella, 
and  a  short  blue  cloak  reaching  to  his  hips — a 
style  which  was  prevalent  during  the  Mexican 
War.  This  he  had  procured  at  Washington 
while  a  Congressman,  and  carried  about  with 
him  as  a  winter  covering  for  the  years  there- 
after. He  read  no  law  on  the  circuit,  except 
when  needed  for  a  special  case,  nor  did  he  read 
general  literature.  Instead  he  would  read  and 
study  a  pocket  geometry,  which  he  carried  about 
with  him;  after  the  year  1854  he  gave  especial 
attention  to  the  newspapers,   and  watched  the 


*9°  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

growth  and  drift  of  political  sentiment  in  that 
way  more  assiduously  than  any  one  whom  I  ever 
knew. 

He  was  utterly  indifferent  as  to  the  appearance 
or  merits  of  any  tavern  or  place  he  stopped  at ;  it 
was  a  matter  of  no  consequence  to  him  whether 
a  caravansary  was  good,  bad,  or  indifferent 
— the  chief  solicitude  with  him  was  the  mag- 
nitude of  the  bill,  for  from  necessity  he  was  very 
prudent  in  his  expenditures,  and  so  would  stop 
at  the  cheaper  taverns.  He  did  not,  however, 
violate  good  policy  in  that  regard,  and  whenever 
it  was  convenient  roomed  with  the  judge  while 
out  on  the  circuit,  the  general  knowledge  of  this 
fact  being  helpful  in  the  way  of  securing  busi- 
ness from  people  who  augured  therefrom  that  ad- 
vantages accrued  to  him  in  consequence.  This  in- 
ference was  entirely  erroneous,  for  social  "chaff" 
made  no  impression  on  the  judge  on  the  bench. 
Frequently  on  the  circuit,  we  were  accustomed 
to  stop  at  farmhouses  for  dinner,  and  sometimes 
over  night.  Upon  such  occasions,  Lincoln  would 
not  be  long  in  entertaining  the  whole  household 
with  his  drolleries.  He  readily  assimilated  him- 
self to  any  position  or  circumstances,  and  was 
as  thoroughly  at  home  in  an  unhewed  log  cabin 
as  at  the  Pike  House,  an  elegant  hotel  in  Bloom- 
ington,  where  he  stopped  when  in  that  city. 

While  Mr.  Lincoln  was  more  guarded  and  less 
unrestrained  in  his  narration  of  anecdotes  to  a 
crowd  in  a  public  place  than  to  a  select  few  in 
the  privacy  of  one  room,  yet  he  was  not  particu- 
lar as  to  the  character  of  his  auditory.  In  fact, 
I  have  known  of  his  regaling  a  miscellaneous 
crowd  of  farmers,  stable  boys,  and  general  roust- 
abouts in  the  common  waiting-room  of  a  country 


LAWYER  191 

inn  with  as  much  apparent  zest  as  our  coterie, 
embracing  the  elite  of  the  bench  and  bar.  Prob- 
ably, however,  his  story-telling  adjuncts  were 
more  completely  attained  in  our  morning  and 
evening  walks  than  at  any  other  time ;  and  if  the 
ghosts  of  the  departed  trees  in  the  "big  grove" 
at  Urbana,  or  the  manes  of  the  stumps  east  of 
Danville  could  speak,  they  might  unfold  some 
startling  revelations.  I  can  easily  recall  in  fancy 
the  crowd  of  roisterers  all  of  whom  save  my- 
self have  departed  for  the  land  of  shadows,  and 
especially  the  Abraham  Lincoln  of  my  early  days 
as  we  thronged  these  primitive  ways.  Imagine 
a  loose-jointed,  carelessly  attired,  homely  man, 
with  a  vacant,  mischievous  look  and  mien,  awk- 
wardly halting  along  in  the  suburbs  of  the  little 
prairie  village,  in  the  midst  of  a  crowd  of  wild, 
Western  lawyers,  he  towering  above  the  rest,  tak- 
ing in  the  whole  landscape,  with  an  apparent  va- 
cuity of  stare,  but  with  deep  penetration  and  oc- 
cult vision.  Something  would  remind  him  of 
"the  feller  in  Indiana,"  or  the  "man  down  in 
Florida,"  and  all  would  crane  their  necks  to  hear 
the  story.  At  its  conclusion,  the  whole  crowd 
would  explode  with  laughter,  Lincoln  himself 
more  emphatically  than  the  rest.  The  reflection 
that  this  uncouth  and  clumsy  joker  should  have 
been  designated  by  Providence  to  be  "the  great- 
est leader  of  men  that  the  world  ever  saw"  could 
never  have  occurred  in  fiction,  and  is  almost  too 
improbable  for  belief  as  a  practical  fact. 

I  was  once  complaining,  while  attending  court 
at  Danville,  that  I  had  no  business  in  that  court, 
having  but  two  or  three  cases,  when  Lincoln 
said :  "You  have  as  much  business  here  as  I  used 
to  have ;  I  listened  to  a  French  street  peddler's 


192  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

antics  here  half  a  day  once,  simply  because  I  had 
not  one  particle  of  business." 

The  only  remark  savoring  of  sarcasm  or  re- 
buke which  Mr.  Lincoln  ever  bestowed  on  me  at 
the  bar  or  elsewhere  (except  on  one  occasion 
when  he  was  President)  occurred  while  a  small 
case  in  which  we  were  interested  was  being  closed 
by  a  speech  on  the  other  side,  to  which  Lincoln 
was  languidly  listening;  the  next  case  for  trial 
being  an  important  one  in  which  we  also  were 
together.  Said  I :  "I  am  afraid  the  old  war-horse 
ain't  stirred  up  to  the  importance  of  the  next 
case";  he  looked  at  me  listlessly  and  said:  "Do 
you  want  the  old  war-horse  to  haul  two  loads  at 
once  ?"  That  and  one  other  time  I  refer  to  in  my 
"Life  on  the  Circuit  with  Lincoln"  (page  474) 
are  the  only  times  Lincoln  ever  said  anything  to 
me  to  cause  me  to  feel  cheap. 

Judge  Davis  often  delegated  his  judicial  func- 
tions to  others.  I  have  known  of  his  getting 
Moon  of  Clinton  to  hold  court  for  him  in 
Bloomington  for  whole  days ;  Lincoln  to  hold  an 
entire  term,  and  frequently  to  sit  for  short  times ; 
and  I  even  knew  of  Colonel  Bryant  of  Indiana 
to  hold  court  for  him  at  Danville.  All  judgments 
rendered  by  these  lawyers  were  voidable.  Time 
has  probably  now  cured  them;  it  was  a  hazard- 
ous business  for  them  and  the  sheriff  and  suitors 
in  their  cases. 

During  the  greater  part  of  the  time  that  Lin- 
coln rode  the  circuit,  railways  did  not  form  the 
usual  means  of  travel ;  and  our  methods  of  loco- 
motion and  accommodation  on  the  circuit  were 
of  the  era  of  the  stage-coach  and  country  taverns, 
and  those  who  are  without  experience  cannot 
know  to  how  great  an  extent  the  advent  of  the 


LAWYER  193 

locomotive  is  the  exodus  of  sentiment,  and  a  de- 
struction of  homely  simplicity. 

In  those  sober  and  prosaic  days,  the  public- 
house  was  called  a  tavern,  and  at  meal-times  the 
guests  were  placed  at  a  long  table,  with  the  most 
distinguished  guest  at  the  foot  of  the  table,  and 
the  sum-total  of  the  victuals  arrayed  all  along 
the  table.  During  court  week,  the  choice  places 
at  the  foot  of  the  table  were  reserved  for  the 
court  and  bar,  and  witnesses,  jurymen,  and  pris- 
oners out  on  bail  ■  were  ranged  along  the  same 
table.  Peddlers  and  travelling  mountebanks  took 
advantage  of  the  throngs  which  court  week  usu- 
ally brought,  to  ply  their  vocations,  and  the  out- 
lying farmers  embraced  those  occasions  to  pay 
their  taxes  and  debts,  swap  horses  and  jack- 
knives,  do  their  trading,  and  listen  to  the  ex- 
change of  professional  compliments,  clashing  of 
wits,  sallies  of  sarcasm,  and  flights  of  eloquence 
in  the  courthouse.  As  the  court  and  bar 
were  necessarily  together,  sleeping  or  waking, 
throughout  the  circuit,  in  business  or  at  rest, 
there  must  needs  be  social  attrition  and  intimacy, 
more  or  less  pronounced,  all  around,  and  Judge 
Davis's  "best  hold"  was  as  a  host,  entertainer, 
and  head  of  the  social  organization  of  the  cir- 
cuit. The  judge  greatly  loved  attention,  to 
be  paid  court  to;  he  was  extremely  fond 
of  prudent  and  proper  conviviality,  and  was 
wont  to  put  every  newcomer  on  the  circuit 
on  a  period  of  probation,  giving  him  op- 
portunity to  prove  himself  a  proper  member  of 
our  coterie,  where,  if  he  succeeded,  he  was  ad- 
mitted into  full  membership;  from  which,  if  he 
failed,  he  was  informally  excluded,  and  made  to 
understand  thoroughly  that  he  was  so. 


194  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

A  method  of  social  entertainment  more  in 
practice  then  than  now  was  story-telling,  and 
it  was,  somehow,  one  of  the  greatest  of  accom- 
plishments to  be  able  to  narrate  stories  in  an 
entertaining  way.  Exactly  why  lawyers  should 
be  addicted  to  this  species  of  entertainment  more 
than  votaries  of  other  callings,  I  cannot  see,  but 
the  fact  is  nevertheless  so,  and  it  seems  to  have 
been  assumed  in  Lincoln's  time  that  the  Eighth 
Circuit  was  the  locality  par  excellence  when  en- 
tertainment by  story-telling  was  to  be  looked  for. 

It  is  probable  that  Lincoln  was  never  exceeded, 
on  the  whole,  as  a  story-teller,  but  he  had  no 
ambition  or  pride  in  this  art,  nor  the  slightest 
envy  towards  any  one  who  vied  with  him  in  that 
respect ;  indeed,  he  preferred  listening  to  another 
good  story-teller  to  entertaining  in  that  way  him- 
self. And  there  were  other  humorists  on  our 
circuit  besides  Lincoln ;  indeed,  fun  was  the  chief 
staple  of  our  leisure  hours. 

In  some  of  the  courts,  the  terms  occupied  two 
or  three  weeks ;  in  others,  as  in  Piatt  and  Cham- 
paign, prior  to  1854,  they  occupied  but  a  day 
or  two.  There  was  as  little  formality  in  these 
courts  as  in  any  other  proper  ones,  and  most  of 
the  civil  cases  were  tried  by  the  court,  without 
the  intervention  of  a  jury.  The  first  business 
was  to  charge  the  grand  jury ;  the  next  to  call 
through  the  dockets,  grant  defaults,  continuances, 
or  orders ;  then  followed  the  disposition  of  crimi- 
nal cases ;  then  civil  law  cases,  and,  finally,  the 
disposition  of  the  chancery  docket.  Davis  was  a 
very  prompt  and  energetic  judge,  and  despatched 
business  with  great  celerity.  In  the  evening,  we 
would  all  assemble  in  the  judge's  room  and  lis- 
ten to  stories  or  talk  sense  till  bedtime;  and  I 


LAWYER  ^95 

will  venture  to  say  that  no  coterie  of  men,  thrown 
accidentally  together  as  we  were,  was  more  har- 
monious or  engendered  more  sincere  and  gener- 
ous friendships  than  ours.  Lincoln  was  the  most 
noted  of  our  circle;  Swett  scarcely  less  so;  then 
Oliver  L.  Davis,  Oscar  F.  Harmon,  and  Judge 
Terry,  of  Danville ;  Lawrence  Weldon  and  James 
B.  McKinley,  of  Clinton;  Amzi  McWilliams, 
William  W.  Orme,  John  M.  Scott,  Asahel  Grid- 
ley  and  Ward  H.  Lamon,  of  Bloomington ;  and 
General  Linder  and  O.  B.  Ficklin,  of  Charleston. 
From  Indiana  there  used  to  come,  partly  on  busi- 
ness, but  chiefly  for  pleasure,  Dan  Mace  and  Jim 
Wilson,  from  Lafayette;  Ned  Hannegan,  Dan 
Voorhees,  and  Joe  Ristine,  from  Covington ;  and 
John  P.  Usher  and  Dick  Thompson,  from  Terre 
Haute. 

I  have  known  of  ten  of  us  riding  all  day  in 
one  vehicle,  and  singing  over  half  the  way,  and 
listening  to  jokes  from  our  clowns,  of  whom  we 
had  several,  the  other  half  the  journey.  "When 
I  lived  'way  down  in  Ole  Virginny,"  was  our 
favorite  song  for  two  or  three  terms.  We  knew 
only  a  stanza  and  a  half,  but  we  sung  these  over 
and  over  again.  Lincoln  made  no  attempt  to 
sing;  he  would  do  nothing  and  attempt  nothing 
he  could  not  do  well.  I  never  knew  Lincoln  to 
make  "a  fool  of  himself"  at  anything;  never 
knew  of  his  making  a  -fiasco  in  telling  a  story,  or 
anything  else.  If  any  one  wanted  to  quarrel  with 
him  in  court  or  out,  which  was  rare,  Lincoln 
never  backed  down.  Swett  used  to  "log  roll" 
(as  he  called  it)  for  business  on  the  circuit;  Lin- 
coln never.  And  there  was  this  peculiarity  about 
his  practice,  that,  although  he  was  a  poor  lawyer 
in  the  sense  of  knowing  the  technical  and  con- 


«96  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

crete  law,  yet  I  never  saw  him  discomfited  or 
disgraced  in  court.  He  was  a  genius  of  affairs 
in  the  courthouse,  as  well  as  on  the  circuit.  His 
tenderness  and  humanity  cropped  out  on  the  cir- 
cuit as  it  did  at  the  White  House.  An  old  farmer 
named  Van  Atta  (as  I  remember  it)  took  a  lot 
of  sheep  to  winter  on  shares,  fed  his  entire  spare 
crop  to  them,  and  they  all  died  in  the  spring, 
when  the  sheep-owner  sued  for  the  loss  of  the 
sheep.  Lincoln  and  I  defended.  The  first  trial 
was  a  mistrial  and  we  had  a  second;  the  costs 
amounted  to  $700.  We  were  defeated,  and  our 
client  had  a  large  judgment  to  pay,  which  took 
nearly  all  he  had.  Although  a  man  nearly  sev- 
enty, he  started  West,  where  he  could  find  cheap 
land  and  found  a  new  home.  When  he  bade  us 
good-bye,  Lincoln  was  affected  almost  to  the 
point  of  tears. 

Whenever  Mr.  Lincoln  took  up  a  case  on 
the  circuit  of  any  intricacy,  if  there  was  time 
to  make  research,  he  would  counsel  sufficiently 
with  his  client  and  joint  counsel  to  ascertain  all 
that  could  be  learned ;  then  would  examine  to  see 
if  the  statute  was  likely  to  contain  anything  bear- 
ing on  the  subject;  then  he  would  seclude  him- 
self .and  formulate  the  whole  case,  in  all  its  de- 
tails, into  concrete  plan  and  harmony,  and  un- 
less it  was  essential  that  we  should  know  his  con- 
clusions, we  would  first  learn  his  views  when  the 
trial  came  on.  When  I  was  new  to  the  bar,  I 
was  trying  to  keep  some  evidence  out,  and  was 
getting  along  very  well  with  the  court,  when 
Lincoln  sung  out :  "I  reckon  it  would  be  fair  to 
let  that  in."  It  sounded  treasonable,  but  I  had 
to  get  used  to  this  eccentricity.  He  made  no  at- 
tempt to  gain  favor  by  cajolery.     He  made  no 


LAWYER  197 

apologies.  If  any  one  got  mad  at  him,  he  must 
get  pleased  again  in  his  own  way ;  Lincoln  would 
never  seek  a  reconciliation.  The  judge  told  me 
he  never  saw  Lincoln  angry  at  poor  accommo- 
dations on  the  circuit  but  once.  They  arrived  at 
Charleston  on  a  cold,  wet  afternoon,  chilled 
through  and  uncomfortable ;  the  landlord  was 
away ;  there  were  no  fires  nor  wood.  Lincoln 
was  thoroughly  incensed;  he  threw  off  his  coat, 
went  to  the  wood-pile,  and  cut  wood  with  an 
axe  for  an  hour.  Davis  built  a  fire,  and  when 
the  landlord  made  his  appearance  late,  Lincoln 
gave  him  a  good  scoring.  His  favorite  attitude 
in  the  room  while  telling  stories  was  standing  up 
with  his  back  to  the  fire ;  it  gave  him  a  good 
chance  to  gesticulate.  If  the  weather  would  ad- 
mit, his  favorite  place  for  consultation  with  a 
client  was  at  the  foot  of  a  tree.  I  have  seen  him 
seated  on  his  haunches,  counselling  with  one  or 
more  clients.  Unless  the  case  was  very  intricate, 
he  would  master  all  the  facts  without  a  note  or 
reference.  If  a  case  was  on  hand  for  more  than 
one  term,  he  would  recollect  the  details  from 
term  to  term,  without  omitting  one.  The  first 
chancery  case  I  had  was  a  boy's  case,  for  I  filed 
a  bill  for  a  mortgagee  to  compel  the  mortgagor 
to  insure  the  mortgaged  property.  I  applied  to 
Lincoln  for  neighborly  help,  and  he  puzzled  over 
it,  but  couldn't  decide  at  first  whether  the  bill 
was  good  or  not;  finally,  Somers,  however,  cut 
the  Gordian  knot  in  a  minute,  by  handing  the  bill 
to  the  judge,  saying :  "Jedge,  won't  you  look  over 
this  bill  and  see  if  there  is  any  equity  in  it?" 
The  judge  was  prompt,  if  Lincoln  was  not;  he 
held  the  bill  to  be  worthless. 

In  the  earlv  days  on  the  circuit,  nearly  all 


I98  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

things  were  as  primitive  as  was  consonant  with 
the  reign  and  rule  of  civilization;  the  taverns 
were  of  the  old-fashioned,  "high-post"  bedstead 
order;  the  best  rooms  were  assigned  to  the  judge 
and  his  coterie  of  lawyers,  and  these,  except  in 
case  of  Davis,  who  tipped  the  scale  at  three  hun- 
dred, slept  two  in  a  bed,  and  sometimes  he  had 
to  take  a  lean  bedfellow.  At  each  semi-annual 
session  of  court,  a  general  housecleaning  and 
turning  over  was  had ;  the  sheriff,  clerk,  and  lo- 
cal attorneys  resorted  to  the  semi-annual  drawer 
or  closet  and  arrayed  themselves  in  the  disguise 
of  clean,  "biled"  shirts  and  good  clothes,  the 
creases  of  the  store  shelf  yet  patent.  The  rude 
courthouse  benches  were  dusted,  the  floor  swept 
and  doused  with  many  buckets  of  water,  fires 
were  lit,  the  neglected  water-pitcher  was  replen- 
ished ;  and  quires  of  foolscap  and  quill  pens  were 
placed  upon  the  jackknife-indented  tables.  Little 
knots  of  country  statesmen,  attired  in  their 
best  jeans  suits,  met  in  the  courtroom,  yard,  or 
sidewalks,  and  in  the  county  offices,  and  dis- 
cussed everything  from  the  Crimean  War  or  the 
California  gold  diggings  to  the  newest  seed- 
wheat  or  Lincoln's  latest  joke. 

Veteran  lawyers  met  their  constituents  with  a 
lofty  and  condescending  air  of  mock  or  strained 
dignity,  which  the  latter  appreciated  at  more 
than  its  value,  and  young  lawyers,  resplendent  in 
ill-fitting  suits  of  creased  store  clothes  and  stand- 
up  collars  that  chafed  their  ears  at  every  turn 
of  the  head,  affected  a  courage  not  well  based, 
and  made  ostentatious  display  of  judicial  paper 
which  had  no  office  except  to  exhibit  the  mock 
substance  of  business  hoped  for,  the  evidence 
of    retainers    not    yet    seen.      When    the    court 


LAWYER  199 

would  actually  arrive,  there  would  be  a  hurryin' 
and  a  scurryin'  in  the  courthouse  and  vicinity. 

The  judge  would  march  in  pomp  from  the 
tavern,  attended  by  such  of  the  court  loungers 
as  had  sufficient  "gall"  to  obtrude  themselves 
upon  him ;  the  lawyers  would  gather  with  their 
little  dockets,  and,  mayhap,  their  law  books  too ; 
the  clerk  would  carry  up  the  court  archives  in 
a  little  hair  trunk ;  the  bailiff  would  bring  up  the 
stone  water  jug  full  cool  and  flowing,  unless  he 
should  forget  it,  as  he  seems  to  have  done  at 
Piatt  one  term.  "If  the  Court  please,"  said 
State's  Attorney  Campbell,  holding  up  a  partly 
filled  pitcher  suggestive  of  antiquity  and  neglect ; 
"is  this  the  same  water  left  over  from  last  term?" 
The  sovereigns  would  gather  in,  each  ready  and 
proud  to  perform  his  allotted  mission  as  juror, 
witness,  party,  or  looker-on.  "Mr.  Sheriff,  open 
court,"  was  ordered  perfunctorily.  "O  yes !  O 
yes ! !  the  circuit  court  is  now  open  for  the  de- 
spatch of  business,"  the  sheriff  would  ejaculate 
in  a  quavering  voice.  "Mr.  Sheriff,  send  out- 
doors and  move  that  peddler  away  from  the 
square,"  might  be  the  next  order.  "Mr.  Clerk, 
call  up  the  grand  jury";  and  from  that  time,  it 
might  be  said,  opus  fervet.  The  grand  jury 
would  be  charged  and  sent  to  their  room ;  the 
docket  would  be  called  through,  and  many  cases 
disposed  of  in  some  summary  way ;  and  by  the 
time  of  adjournment,  the  work  of  the  session 
would  be  well  outlined. 

The  charm  which  invested  the  life  on  the  Eighth 
Circuit  in  the  mind  and  fancy  of  Mr.  Lincoln 
yet  lingered  there,  even  in  the  most  responsible 
and  glorious  days  of  his  administration ;  over 
and  over  again  has  the  great  President  stolen  an 


200  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

hour  or  a  few  minutes  from  his  life  of  anxious 
care  to  live  over  again  those  bygone  exhilarat- 
ing and  halcyon  days  in  brief  epitome,  with 
Swett  or  me  as  the  purveyor  or  historian  of  the 
bright  reminiscences.  Lincoln  could  not  resist 
the  influence  of  association,  as  was  demonstrated 
when  he  cast  policy,  statecraft,  and  proper  ad- 
ministration to  the  winds  in  behalf  of  sentiment, 
and  appointed  David  Davis  to  the  high  office  of 
Supreme  Judge,  simply  because  he  was  the  ex- 
ponent of  that  period  of  bright  and  auroral 
reminiscences,  his  Life  on  the  Eighth  Judicial 
Circuit. 


CHAPTER  XI 


Lincoln's  religion 


Abraham  Lincoln,  who  in  the  years  of  his 
adolescence  was  extremely  latitudinarian  in  his 
religious  beliefs,  when  entrusted  with  the  mission 
of  greatest  import  to  humanity  ever  confided  to 
man  since  Moses  the  lawgiver,  became  fully  rec- 
onciled to  the  essential  truths  of  Christianity. 

Joshua  Fry  Speed,  the  most  intimate  and  un- 
selfish friend  that  Mr.  Lincoln  ever  had,  said : 
"When  I  knew  him  [Lincoln]  in  early  life,  he 
was  a  sceptic.  He  had  tried  hard  to  be  a  be- 
liever, but  his  reason  could  not  grasp  and  solve 
the  great  problem  of  redemption  as  taught.  He 
was  very  cautious  never  to  give  expression  to 
any  thought  or  sentiment  that  would  grate 
harshly  upon  a  Christian's  ear.  For  a  sincere 
Christian  he  had  a  great  respect.  He  often  said 
that  the  most  ambitious  man  might  live  to  see 
every  hope  fail,  but  no  Christian  could  live  to  see 
his  fail  because  fulfilment  could  come  only  when 
life  ended.  But  this  was  a  subject  we  never  dis- 
cussed. The  only  evidence  I  have  of  any  change 
was  in  the  summer  before  he  was  killed.  I  was 
invited  out  to  the  Soldiers'  Home  to  spend  the 
night.  As  I  entered  the  room,  near  night,  he 
was  sitting  near  a  window,  intently  reading  his 
Bible.  Approaching  him  I  said :  T  am  glad  to 
see  you  so  profitably  engaged.'     'Yes/  said  he, 


201 


202  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

'I  am  profitably  engaged.'  'Well,'  said  I,  'if  you 
have  recovered  from  your  scepticism,  I  am  sorry 
to  say  that  I  have  not.'  Looking  me  earnestly  in 
the  face,  and  placing  his  hand  upon  my  shoulder, 
he  said :  'You  are  wrong,  Speed ;  take  all  of 
this  Book  upon  reason  that  you  can,  and 
the  balance  on  faith,  and  you  will  live  and 
die  a  happier  and  better  man.'  " 

Judge  Gillespie  of  Edwardsville,  111.  (the  same 
who  jumped  out  of  the  window  of  the  Legisla- 
ture with  Lincoln),  says:  "I  asked  him  [Lin- 
coln] once  what  was  to  be  done  with  the  South 
after  the  Rebellion  was  put  down.  He  said  some 
thought  their  heads  ought  to  come  off ;  'but,'  said 
he,  'if  it  was  left  to  me,  I  could  not  tell  where  to 
draw  the  line  between  those  whose  heads  should 
come  off  and  those  whose  heads  should  stay  on.' 
He  said  that  he  had  been  recently  reading  the 
history  of  the  rebellion  of  Absalom,  and  that  he 
inclined  to  adopt  the  views  of  David.  'When 
David  was  fleeing  from  Jerusalem,  Shimei 
cursed  him.  After  the  Rebellion  was  put  down, 
Shimei  craved  a  pardon.  Abishai,  David's 
nephew,  the  son  of  Zeruiah,  David's  sister,  said : 
"This  man  ought  not  to  be  pardoned,  because 
he  cursed  the  Lord's  anointed."  David  said: 
"What  have  I  to  do  with  you,  ye  sons  of  Zeruiah, 
that  you  should  this  day  be  adversaries  unto  me  ? 
Know  ye  that  not  a  man  shall  be  put  to  death  in 
Israel."  '  " 

Mr.  Lincoln's  early  religious  views  conformed, 
not  to  dogmas  and  creeds,  but  to  the  religion  of 
humanity.  Of  Sabbaths,  when  his  parents  would 
be  at  church,  he  would  hold  a  simple  religious 
service  at  home,  and  would  enforce  upon  his 
small  auditory  the  duty  of  kindness  toward  all 


LINCOLN'S  RELIGION  203 

animate  objects.  As  he  grew  to  manhood,  his 
practical  mind  discarded  all  conventional  mat- 
ters appertaining  to  religion,  and  boldly  took  is- 
sue with  every  artificial  barrier,  mediator,  or  ap- 
proach which  lay  between  his  Maker  and  man. 
Whether  he  kept  his  protest  within  the  strict 
realms  of  ideal  propriety  it  is  needless  to  inquire ; 
what  the  great  martyr  believed  in  the  years  of 
his  adolescence  can  have  none  but  speculative  in- 
terest. The  theories  of  the  untutored  mind  are 
prone  to  fallacies,  alike  in  sacred  and  secular 
things.  What  he  believed  as  the  result  of  ma- 
turity of  intellect,  inquiry,  suffering,  and  expe- 
rience is  all  that  is  valuable  as  example. 

While  all  men  are  agents  of  the  Deity  to  en- 
force His  will,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  the  espe- 
cial nuncio  and  vicegerent  of  the  Deity  to  execute 
a  supernatural  mission.  So  Mr.  Lincoln  believed, 
and  he  humbly  and  reverently  accepted  the  mis- 
sion, and  performed  it  with  zeal  and  fidelity. 
(  Logically  and  inevitably,  therefore,  he  believed 
in  God ;  in  His  superintending  Providence ;  in 
His  intervention  in  mundane  affairs  for  the  weal 
of  the  race.  To  Him  he  made  report ;  from  Him 
he  took  counsel ;  at  His  hands  he  implored  cur- 
rent aid ;  he  ascribed  glory  and  thanks  to  Him ; 
he  recognized  Him  as  the  Supreme  Good.  God 
came  to  him  monitorially ;  with  succor ;  with 
good  cheer ;  with  victory.  He  confounded  the 
counsels  of  his  accusers ;  He  made  the  wrath  of 
his  enemies  to  minister  to  his  good ;  His  direct 
intervention  the  President  experienced  in  many 
ways.  Lincoln  acknowledged  all  with  a  grateful 
heart ;  he  ordered  national  thanksgivings  and 
praises  on  every  suitable  occasion ;  and  for  some 
reason,  clear  to  Omniscience  but  inscrutable  to 


204  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

us,  he  was  stricken  down,  as  his  great  prototype 
was  at  Mount  Pisgah,  when  he  came  in  sight  of 
the  promised  land.  Therefore,  he  had  more 
proofs  to  warrant  his  belief,  and  believed  more 
implicitly  in  God,  and  approached  nearer  to  Him, 
than  any  man  of  the  race  since  Moses  the 
lawgiver. 

In  my  "Life  on  the  Circuit  with  Lincoln/'  in  an 
elaborate  chapter,  I  make,  as  I  believe,  a  con- 
clusive argument  in  favor  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
claims  to  be  called  a  Christian,  but  the  proofs 
are  so  ample  and  conclusive,  unless  Mr.  Lincoln 
be  a  trickster  in  speech,  as  to  leave  no  excuse  for 
any  contrary  opinion. 

In  a  brief  letter  of  acceptance  of  the  first  Pres- 
idential nomination,  Mr.  Lincoln  implores  "the 
assistance  of  Divine  Providence."  Again,  in  his 
farewell  address  to  his  neighbors,  he  also  grate- 
fully and  reverently  placed  his  reliance  on  Provi- 
dence, and  invoked  the  prayers  of  his  neighbors 
upon  his  mission,  and  in  several  of  his  speeches 
en  route  to  the  Capitol,  he  recognized  the  power 
and  mercy  of  God. 

In  his  Inaugural  Address,  he  says:  "Intelli- 
gence, patriotism,  Christianity,  and  a  firm  reli- 
ance on  Him  who  has  never  yet  forsaken  this 
favored  land,  are  still  competent  to  adjust,  in  the 
best  way,  all  our  present  difficulty."  The  closing 
sentence  of  his  first  Message  to  Congress  was 
thus:  "And  .  .  .  without  guile  and  with  pure 
purpose,  let  us  renew  our  trust  in  God,  and  go 
forward  without  fear,  and  with  manly  hearts." 

He  opens  his  first  regular  message  to  Congress 
by  expressing  gratitude  to  God,  and  closes  by 
expressing  reliance  on  Him.  And  in  a  special 
message  to  Congress  on  March  6,  1862,  he  says : 


LINCOLN'S  RELIGION  205 

"In  view  of  my  great  responsibility  to  my  God 
and  my  country,"  etc. 

His  fourth  and  last  regular  Message  bestows 
the  profoundest  gratitude  to  Almighty  God. 

The  second  Inaugural  is  an  almost  unbroken 
invocation  to  God  for  His  assistance  and  succor 
in  behalf  of  our  bleeding  nation.  It  contains 
passages  (I  say  it  without  irreverence)  which 
approach  the  Divine  Sermon  on  the  Mount  for 
moral  sublimity  and  supreme  elevation  of 
thought  as  closely  as  a  merely  human  document 
can  do  it.  It  is,  in  my  judgment,  the  most  sub- 
lime of  Mr.  Lincoln's  utterances.  I  think  it 
exceeds  even  the  Gettysburg  speech.  It  is,  and 
will  ever  remain,  a  sacred  classic. 

In  the  general  exultation  which  followed  the 
surrender  of  Lee,  the  President  said:  "He  from 
whom  all  blessings  flow  must  not  be  forgotten." 

And  a  call  for  a  National  Thanksgiving  was 
being  prepared  when  he  was  stricken  down. 

I  have  thus  presented  but  a  small  part  of  the 
documents  and  sayings  in  which  Mr.  Lincoln 
recognized,  praised,  and  relied  on  the  Almighty. 
He  seemed  to  act  as  if  He  was  present,  exercis- 
ing a  personal  supervision  over  our  affairs,  and 
in  every  way,  and  upon  all  proper  occasions,  he 
recognizes  and  attests  his  gratitude  to  Him  for 
mercies  and  providences,  and  humbly  receives 
blows  from  His  chastening  hand. 

The  proper  Christianity  of  such  a  man  cannot 
be  questioned.  The  President  once  said :  "When 
any  church  will  inscribe  over  its  altar  as  its  sole 
qualification  for  membership,  the  Saviour's  con- 
densed statement  of  the  substance  of  both  law 
and  gospel,  'Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God 
with  all  thy  heart  and  with  all  thy  soul  and  with 


2o6  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

all  thy  mind  and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself,'  that 
church  will  I  join  with  all  my  heart  and  all  my 
soul." 

Then  his  absolute  morality,  purity  of  life, 
beneficence  of  conduct,  abounding  charity,  and 
the  catholicity  of  his  love  of  his  kind,  must  inure 
to  his  infinite  credit.  No  ruler  of  a  republic 
ever  had  so  much  power ;  none  ever  employed 
it  so  tenderly,  so  benevolently,  so  mercifully.  No 
man  ever  saved  so  many  human  lives  by  the 
pulsations  of  his  kindly  heart ;  no  power  save 
the  Almighty  ever  used  the  power  of  pardon  so 
graciously  and  benignly ;  no  man  ever  dried  the 
mourners'  tears,  assuaged  grief  of  stricken  ones, 
restored  the  condemned  to  life  and  hope,  to  such 
an  extent,  and  with  such  a  sympathetic  soul  as 
he.  His  succor  was  almost  Divine  in  essence, 
and  gracious  and  gentle  as  the  dews  of  Heaven 
in  manner. 

More  than  any  other  man  in  modern  life,  he 
completely  fulfilled  the  requirement,  and  justified 
the  asseveration,  of  James,  the  brother  of  our 
Lord,  that  "pure  religion  and  undefiled  before 
God  and  the  Father  is  this,  To  visit  the  father- 
less and  widows  in  their  affliction,  and  to  keep 
himself  unspotted  from  the  world." 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  an  extremely  sad  and  melan- 
choly man;  at  times  this  sadness  was  laid  aside 
for  an  hour,  and  he  felt  really  blithe  and  jocund; 
but  his  feelings  gravitated  and  tended  to  the  som- 
bre, mystical,  and  melancholy.  In  the  realms  of 
his  diseased  fancy,  the  heavens  were  always 
hung  in  funereal  black.  He  was  prone  to  fits 
of  weird  abstraction,  and  enveloped  in  an  atmos- 
phere of  morbid  reverie;  he  lived  largely  in  un- 
seen   realms,    communed    often    with    invisible 


LINCOLN'S  RELIGION  207 

spirits,  and  talked  with  a  personal  God.  Al- 
though in  apparent  opposition  to  his  tendencies 
to  fatalism,  he  yet  believed  in  the  direct  interven- 
tion of  God  in  our  national  affairs,  and  he  fre- 
quently used  to  ask  Him  in  a  direct,  manly  way 
to  grant  this  boon,  avert  that  disaster,  or  advise 
him  what  to  do  in  a  given  contingency.  "The 
Mystics,"  says  Murdock,  "profess  a  pure,  sub- 
lime, and  perfect  devotion,  wholly  disinterested, 
and  maintain  that  in  calm  and  holy  contempla- 
tion, they  have  direct  intelligence  with  the  Divine 
Spirit,  and  acquire  a  knowledge  of  Divine  things 
which  is  unattainable  by  the  reasoning  faculty." 
In  religion,  Lincoln  was  in  essence  a  mystic,  and 
all  his  adoration  was  in  accordance  with  the 
tenets  of  that  order. 


CHAPTER  XII 
Lincoln's  mental  and  moral  natures 

Mr.  Lincoln's  intellectual  and  moral  natures 
were  blended  and  harmonious,  nor  could  any  line 
of  cleavage  be  discerned  between  them ;  his  moral 
honesty  and  intellectual  honesty  were  one  and 
the  same ;  and  I  defy  the  ages  to  discover  the 
ratio  in  which  the  moral  and  intellectual  ele- 
ments commingled  in  his  daring  deeds  of 
statesmanship.  The  greatest  trophies  were,  in- 
deed, moral  achievements,  but  they  had  an  intel- 
lectual framework  and  fibre.  But  he  was  not 
born  great;  contrariwise,  he  was  defective,  in- 
harmonious, and  unassimilated;  anatomically,  he 
was  disproportioned  and  unsymmetrical ;  physi- 
ologically, he  was  both  organically  and  patholog- 
ically deficient;  phrenologically,  he  was  without 
emphasis  in  the  region  consecrated  to  the  logical 
and  reasoning  faculties.  Only  the  deep  and 
earnest  reflection  indicated  by  his  sad  eyes  is  in 
harmony  with  his  intellectual  trophies. 

These  views  are  confirmed  alike  by  his  youth- 
ful tendencies,  and  by  what,  for  want  of  a  more 
appropriate  name,  I  may  call  his  literary  produc- 
tions, between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  twenty- 
eight  ;  for  there  is  no  embryonic  or  assured  great- 
ness there  apparent.  Nor  was  greatness  ever 
thrust  upon  him,  as  is  obvious,  upon  the  most 
superficial  view.    By  sheer  force  of  political  en- 

208 


MENTAL  AND  MORAL  NATURES        209 

terprise  and  intellectual  energy,  he  conquered  an 
honored  place  in  the  political  forum,  and  by  the 
display  of  wisdom,  ethics,  and  strength,  he 
achieved  a  venerated  name  in  the  gallery  of  the 
immortals.  Therefore,  I  think  he  achieved  great- 
ness; but  in  the  mystery  of  his  being  can  its 
genesis  be  portrayed? 

His  scholastic  education,  as  he  distinctly  told 
Swett,  was  limited  to  four  months'  tuition  of  un- 
lettered masters  in  log  schoolhouses,  yet  his  lit- 
erary performances  have  the  technique  of  a 
rhetorician ;  and  while  his  modes  of  expression 
are  original,  bizarre,  and  inverted,  they  are  never 
extravagant  or  meretricious,  but  frequently  glis- 
ten with  the  sublime  and  beautiful,  and  attain  to 
the  heights  of  the  classical. 

His  coarse  texture  and  homely  exterior  style 
and  address  betray  his  primitive  and  wilderness 
extraction,  but  the  absence  of  the  petty  vices  and 
gross  habits  incident  to  the  frontier  gives  assu- 
rance of  psychological  refinement;  and  the  wide 
compass,  intense  energy,  and  deep  profundity  of 
his  mind  are  attested  by  the  range  and  diversity 
of  his  achievements,  of  which  the  wild  "Chron- 
icles of  Reuben"  and  the  second  Inaugural  are 
extremes  of  the  chronological  and  intellectual 
span. 

This  marvellous,  if  not,  indeed,  miraculous, 
progress  could  not,  according  to  human  expe- 
rience, have  been  wholly  achieved  by  orderly  evo- 
lution ;  it  would  seem  as  if  he  underwent  a  men- 
tal metamorphosis.  In  the  coarse  "Chronicles  of 
Reuben,"  or  even  the  more  dignified  products  of 
the  obscure  nebula  of  his  youthful  aspirations, 
one  found  no  promise  of  the  "Cooper  Institute" 
speech    or    germ    of    his    Inaugurals;    but    his 


2io  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

speeches  and  state  papers,  commencing  in  1854, 
and  continuing  until  the  end,  each  and  all  attest 
the  master  workman,  and  not  the  apprentice,  in 
politics  and  statesmanship.  After  he  was  fully 
invested  with  the  responsibilities  of  state, 
charged  with  the  awful  burden  and  heart-rending 
sorrows  of  an  internecine  war,  and  was  encom- 
passed by  "the  fierce  light  that  beats  upon  the 
throne,"  the  contrasts  between  the  apparent  man 
as  a  man,  and  the  undisguised  ruler,  were  em- 
phasized. So  far  as  method  was  concerned,  he 
exhibited  no  ostentation;  but  so  far  as  principles 
and  official  policy  were  concerned — the  chart,  so 
to  speak,  by  which  he  sailed — he  was  as  unyield- 
ing and  implacable  as  fate,  whose  agent  he  was, 
and  none  could  mistake  the  fundamental  ideas 
which  he  enforced. 

In  these  matters  he  "wore  his  heart  upon  his 
sleeve,"  and  the  historian  and  biographer  has  no 
biographical  or  ethical  surprises  to  record,  for 
certainly  nothing  in  history  could  be  more  sim- 
ple than  his  ethics  and  philosophy.  "Slavery  is 
founded  in  the  selfishness  of  man's  nature ;  oppo- 
sition to  it  in  his  love  of  justice."  "Much  as  I 
hate  slavery,  I  would  consent  to  its  extension, 
rather  than  see  the  Union  dissolved."  "I  would 
save  the  Union;  I  would  save  in  the  shortest 
way  under  the  Constitution;  .  .  .  if  I  could 
save  the  Union  without  freeing  any  slave  I  would 
do  it ;  if  I  could  do  it  by  freeing  all  the  slaves, 
I  would  do  it ;  if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing  some 
and  leaving  others  alone,  I  would  also  do  that." 
"The  question  whether  slavery  is  wrong  depends 
upon  whether  or  not  the  negro  is  a  man."  "The 
negress  is  not  my  equal  in  color,  and  perhaps 
in  other  respects,  but  in  the  right  to  eat  the  bread 


'MENTAL  AND  MORAL  NATURES        211 

which  her  own  hand  has  earned,  she  is  my  equal, 
and  the  equal  of  everybody  else."  "If  slavery 
is  not  wrong-,  nothing  is  wrong."  "He  who 
would  be  no  slave,  must  have  no  slave."  "They 
who  deny  freedom  to  others,  deserve  it  not  for 
themselves."  "Labor  is  prior  to,  and  independ- 
ent of,  capital,  and  deserves  the  higher  consid- 
eration." "The  soldier  risks  his  life,  and  fre- 
quently yields  it  up,  for  his  country;  to  the  sol- 
dier, therefore,  belongs  the  highest  honor,"  etc. 

And  because  his  philosophy  and  modes  of  ex- 
pressing it  are  so  simple  and  unadorned,  superfi- 
cial minds  are  apt  to  consider  that  his  character 
may  be  readily  analyzed.  Such,  however,  is  not 
the  fact.  The  twenty-six  alphabetical  letters, 
the  nine  numerical  digits,  and  the  algebraic  and 
geometrical  symbols  are,  indeed,  simple,  like  Lin- 
coln's apothegms ;  but  from  the  former  are 
formed  theorems  and  problems  in  mathematics, 
philosophy,  and  metaphysics,  which  task  and  con- 
found genius,  and  from  the  latter  were  deduced 
concrete  political  principles  which  millions  of 
men  in  arms  assailed,  and  other  millions  with 
shot,  shell,  and  gleaming  steel  defended. 

In  the  practical  application  of  principles  to  ac- 
tual administration,  Lincoln  was  handicapped  by 
the  inharmony  and  conflict  of  opposing  interests, 
and,  although  not  impervious  to  the  charge  of 
affirmative  dissimulation,  he,  nevertheless,  be- 
neath the  mask  and  disguise  of  listlessness,  hu- 
mor, simplicity,  and  guilelessness,  concealed  the 
wiles  and  artifice  of  finesse  and  sagacity.  He 
observed  frankness,  candor,  and  ingenuous- 
ness in  his  dealings  with  men,  and  when  honor 
and  integrity  were  involved,  conformed  rigidly  to 
their  monitions,  but  he  was  conventionally,  prac- 


212  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

tically,  and  by  stress  of  circumstances  a  politi- 
cian. He  believed  in  drawing  party  lines  and  in 
enforcing  party  discipline.  When  Buchanan  was 
removing  Douglas's  friends  from  office,  Lincoln 
told  me  the  former  was  right  in  putting  in  office 
those  who  conformed  to  his  views,  and  that  he 
would  have  done  the  same  in  Buchanan's  place. 

His  awkwardness  of  manner,  heartiness  of 
welcome,  promises,  and  direct  statements  were 
genuine ;  his  dissimulation  was  never  express  or 
affirmative,  but  always  negative,  implied,  and 
utilitarian.  He  would  listen  to  matters  and  not 
agree  with  the  narrator,  but  with  no  symptoms  of 
impatience  or  displeasure.  He  would  frequently 
launch  out  or  lapse  into  inappropriate  and  fatu- 
ous themes  in  order  to  evade  or  neutralize  those 
which  were  mat  apropos  or  mischievous,  and  so 
interpose  the  President's  jester  as  a  shield  or  foil 
to  an  inapposite  or  undesired  interview  with  the 
responsible  President  himself.  These  by-plays  of 
diplomacy  served  a  needed  purpose,  and  met  a 
current  emergency,  but  did  not  add  to  the  fame 
or  dignity  of  its  possessor.  Superficial  men  who 
met  him  on  these  terms,  judged  him  by  the  osten- 
sible act,  and  not  by  its  occult  force  or  ultimate 
results,  and  either  ascribed  to  him  the  tame  attri- 
butes of  the  commonplace  and  prosaic,  or  dis- 
paraged his  great  qualities  and  exploitations  by 
ascribing  to  them  no  higher  qualities  than  a 
cheap  attribute  of  vapid  and  insipid  goodness. 

A  recent  astute  critic  says  that  "the  preemi- 
nently striking  feature  in  Lincoln's  nature  was 
the  extraordinary  degree  in  which  he  always 
seemed  to  be  in  close  and  sympathetic  touch  with 
the  people — that  is  to  say,  the  people  in  the  mass 
wherein  he  was  imbedded,  the  social  body  amid 


MENTAL  AND  MORAL  NATURES        213 

which  he  dwelt,  which  pressed  upon  him  on  all 
sides,  which  for  him  formed  the  public.  First, 
this  group  or  body  was  only  the  population  of 
the  frontier  settlement;  then  it  widened  to  in- 
clude the  State  of  Illinois ;  then  it  expanded  to 
include  the  entire  North."  This  propensity  has 
been  noted  by  many  observers,  and  is  thus  stated 
by  Bancroft:  "As  a  child  in  a  dark  night,  on  a 
rugged  way,  catches  hold  of  the  hand  of  its  fa- 
ther for  guidance  and  support,  he  clung  fast  to 
the  hand  of  the  people,  and  moved  calmly 
through  the  gloom." 

In  contemplating  the  methods  by  which  he 
kept  en  rapport  with  the  people,  there  are  a  logic 
and  harmony,  a  consistency  of  aim  and  an  adap- 
tation of  means  to  end,  that  it  would  be  an  abuse 
of  common  sense  to  call  fortuitous. 

The  popularity  which  he  had  acquired  by  mus- 
cular arts,  he  retained  and  extended  over  a  wide\ 
and  more  highly  cultivated  area  by  intellectual 
prowess,  and  his  force  of  dialectics  had  sufficient 
momentum  to  reach  all  peoples  who  prized  lib- 
erty as  a  jewel.  At  a  later  period,  when  the  fate 
of  democracy  depended  on  his  correct  and  heroic 
performance  of  high  moral  exploitations,  he  rose 
to  the  dignity  and  demands  of  the  occasion,  and, 
however  exalted  his  mental  achievements,  they 
were  outclassed  by  trophies  of  moral  exploita- 
tion, albeit  there  was  an  intellectual  fibre  running 
through  the  series. 

But  exterior,  logical,  and  visible  agencies  de- 
fined only  the  starting-point  of  his  matchless  ca- 
reer; the  film  of  sorrow  and  bereavement  which 
glazed  his  eyes  at  the  death-bed  of  Nancy  Hanks 
Lincoln  was  never  effaced,  and  the  mystic  cords 
of  memory  and  sympathy  which  stretched  from 


214  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

the  neglected  grave  in  the  unkempt  furze  and 
deep,  tangled  wildwood  to  the  sad  heart  of  the 
bereaved  boy  were  constant  in  their  tension,  im- 
pelling him  in  all  efforts  that  were  noble  and 
heroic  toward  all  results  that  were  good  and 
true. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  character  might  be  defined  as  a 
combination  of  many  antitheses;  some  obvious, 
some  perplexing,  others  occult.  The  extreme 
simplicity  and  profound  secrecy  of  his  methods 
of  administration,  and  the  daring  of  his  enter- 
prises and  magnitude  of  his  achievements,  pre- 
sented the  widest  contrasts,  and  provoked  illib- 
eral criticism. 

It  is  singular  to  reflect  that  the  "Conway 
Cabal"  was  organized  by  some  of  the  best  men 
of  the  nation,  to  destroy  Washington  in  the  hey- 
day of  his  usefulness,  and  that  the  "Wade  and 
Davis"  intrigue  was  inaugurated  to  relegate  the 
great  Emancipator  to  private  life  just  after  he 
had  "proclaimed  liberty  throughout  the  land,  to 
all  the  inhabitants  thereof."  It  is  instructive  to 
the  historical  student  to  trace  the  serpentine  line 
which  defined  the  formative  public  opinion  of 
Mr.  Lincoln  during  his  administration;  the  pro- 
slavery  coteries  would  alternate  with  the  radical 
Abolitionists  in  praise  and  censure ;  while  the 
several  personal  followings  would  do  the  same; 
and  in  pursuing  a  just,  constant,  and  necessary 
course,  he  at  one  era  trenched  upon,  and  at  an- 
other ministered  to,  the  prejudices  of  all. 

Intimately  connected  with  the  disparity  be- 
tween methods  and  results  was  Mr.  Lincoln's 
profound  and  impenetrable  reticence.  With  al- 
most prophetic  vision,  he  foresaw  crises  in  our 
National  affairs  in  advance  of  the  general  view, 


MENTAL  AND  MORAL  NATURES        215 

and  bore  the  woes  of  the  nation  vicariously  in 
advance,  but  shared  the  burden  with  none ;  and 
of  the  many  sad  scenes  presented  by  the  unholy 
rebellion,  none  was  more  melancholy  than  the 
spectacle  of  this  august  victim  expiating  in 
silence  and  without  complaint  the  great  National 
sin,  of  which  he  was  guiltless. 

While  a  majority  of  his  supporters  were  quick 
to  discern  in  Emancipation  a  righteous  act  and 
one  essential  to  the  autonomy  of  the  adminis- 
tration, the  border  States  were  equally  clear  that 
its  adoption  would  be  the  knell  of  the  cause,  and 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  the  first  to  discern  its  porten- 
tous shadow  advancing  as  an  imperious  necessity 
to  National  salvation.  In  the  solitude  of  self- 
introspection  he  formulated  plans  of  emancipa- 
tion and  wrought  out  the  details,  carefully  avoid- 
ing offence  in  all  places  and  modes  where  it 
might  prove  fatal  to  the  cause  of  the  Union.  His 
policy  about  provisioning  Sumter  was  similar; 
while  giving  no  sign  and  apparently  bestow- 
ing none  but  perfunctory  thought  upon  this  mo- 
mentous matter,  he  was,  in  fact,  secretly  but  most 
anxiously  devising  proper  means  to  do  it  at  the 
apposite  time.  Other  instances  will  readily  oc- 
cur, as  the  surrender  of  Slidell  and  Mason,  the 
reinstatement  of  McClellan,  his  veto  of  the  Con- 
fiscation Act,  refusal  to  arm  negroes,  etc.  For 
all  these  and  other  matters  he  gave  no  premo- 
nition or  sign  of  a  parturition  of  mighty  events, 
but  proclaimed  them  in  the  least  startling  and 
most  undramatic  mode  practicable  to  efficiency. 

His  modes  of  thought,  speech,  and  action  were 
sni  generis.  He  imitated  nobody;  his  manners 
were  hearty,  honest,  and  sincere,  and  no  one  had 
any  distrust  of  affirmative  deceit  or  latent  treach- 


216  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

ery.  In  social  and  personal  democracy  he  was 
like  Jefferson  or  Jackson,  but,  unlike  those  great 
leaders,  he  possessed  the  crowning  virtue  of 
magnanimity,  and  he  administered  his  great  trust 
"with  malice  toward  none,  with  charity  for  all." 

His  companions  on  the  circuit  were  as  prone 
to  be  the  unconventional  and  the  unpolished  as 
the  polite  and  genteel;  to  his  apprehension,  that 
part  of  the  man  composed  of  wool,  fur,  leather, 
and  bear's-grease  was  unnoted,  the  soul  and  ethi- 
cal tendencies  alone  made  the  man.  He  practised 
himself,  and  appreciated  in  others,  cordial, 
homely,  and  unrestrained  manhood,  and  dis- 
dained the  vacuity  of  mock  gentility,  and  the 
inanity  and  hypocrisy  of  vain  and  empty  deport- 
ment. Benevolence  and  conscientiousness,  cau- 
sality, order,  and  association  of  ideas  abounded  in 
his  character;  and  his  concrete  ethics,  political 
philosophy,  and  responsible  administration  were 
drawn  from  these. 

Abstractly,  he  desired  to  be  thoroughly  logical 
and  consistent  in  his  honesty;  concretely,  he  was 
as  effectively  so  as  propriety  and  expediency  au- 
thorized. He  would  as  lieve  break  into  a  man's 
house  and  despoil  the  owner  of  his  goods  as  to 
secure  the  same  result  through  the  medium  of  an 
unjust  lawsuit.  To  acquire  values  by  malprac- 
tice or  by  unjust  and  inequitable  action  in  court, 
by  flat  perjury  or  by  larceny,  were  alike  in  es- 
sence to  him.  The  form  of  the  mal-appropria- 
tion  was  of  no  consequence,  nor  was  he  deluded 
by  ornate  names  or  euphemistic  titles ;  dishonesty 
was  dishonesty  to  him,  whether  it  was  concealed 
in  the  burglar's  kit,  the  "dicer's  oath,"  or  the 
lawyer's  sophistical  speech.  But  his  honesty  was 
more  essential  and  abstruse  than  this ;  for  it  was 


MENTAL  AND  MORAL  NATURES       217 

equally  an  attribute  of  his  intellect  and  con- 
science ;  and  he  was,  with  equal  intensity,  materi- 
ally, morally,  and  mentally  honest.  But  he  was 
not  fanatical,  bigoted,  or  dominated  with  one 
idea ;  he  strove  for  the  most  wholesome  and  utili- 
tarian results,  even  in  the  observance  of  honesty. 
Thus,  he  believed  it  was  radically  dishonest  to 
hold  slaves  in  bondage,  but  he  also  knew  that  our 
National  life  was  founded  and  vouchsafed  by  a 
contract  to  hold  them  thus ;  and  by  the  latter  con- 
tract he  abided,  even  to  the  extent  of  restoring 
fugitive  slaves,  as  embracing  the  higher  ethics 
and  utility. 

He  believed  that  nature  was  as  logical  and  har- 
monious in  the  moral,  as  in  the  material,  world, 
and  that  the  interrelation  between  cause  and  ef- 
fect was  as  unerring  in  one  case  as  in  the  other. 
"Whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also 
reap"  was,  to  him,  alike  a  practical  truth  and  a 
Divine  law. 

He  said  to  Herndon :  "There  are  no  accidents 
in  my  philosophy;  the  past  is  the  cause  of  the 
present,  and  the  present  is  the  cause  of  the  fu- 
ture ;  all  these  are  links  in  the  endless  chain, 
stretching  from  the  finite  to  the  infinite." 

Lincoln's  logical  tendencies  were  indigenous. 
He  had  no  tutor;  he  learned  nothing  from 
schools,  academies,  or  professors.  His  inductive 
methods  came  wholly  by  self-introspection ;  and 
like  an  acorn,  which  comprises  within  itself  not 
only  the  oak  in  embryo,  but  also  the  form  of 
structure  and  development,  his  mind  comprised 
within  itself  not  only  the  potential  President  and 
Emancipator,  but  equally  the  mechanism  and 
motor  of  growth  and  development  to  that  sub- 
lime destiny. 


218  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

According  to  Lincoln's  philosophy,  affairs  in 
the  moral  world  should  approximate  to  the  cer- 
tainty of  affairs  in  the  material  world.  If  clients 
had  good  sense  and  perfect  integrity,  and  law- 
yers complete  knowledge  and  sterling  honesty, 
there  would  be  no  lawsuits ;  if  people  led  orderly 
and  well-appointed  lives,  sorrow  would  be  re- 
duced to  the  inevitable;  if  philosophers,  states- 
men, and  rulers  were  wise  and  upright,  the  his- 
tory of  mankind  would  not  be  a  melancholy  retro- 
spect of  wars,  violence,  and  passion ;  and  as  a 
political  casuist  or  law  advocate,  he  deemed  it 
to  be  his  duty  to  bring  to  his  subject  the  force  of 
demonstration  as  completely  as  the  environments 
of  moral  questions  would  allow. 

Sound  principle  to  him  was  like  a  man  in  per- 
fect health ;  a  proposition  in  which  fallacies  were 
inherent  was  like  a  body  full  of  humors,  or  a 
man  with  a  broken  leg.  He  introduced  no  fal- 
lacy in  his  own  creations ;  he  suffered  none  to 
go  without  detection  in  his  opponents ;  he  was  a 
practical,  and  in  no  sense  a  speculative,  phi- 
losopher. 

He  contemned  the  historical  argument  about 
slavery,  either  as  a  word  or  shield.  His  abstract 
argument  was  like  this :  ''Whether  slavery  is  or 
is  not  wrong,  depends  upon  whether  the  negro 
is  or  is  not  a  man;  to  admit  that  the  negro  is  a 
man  is  also  to  concede  that  his  slavery  is  wrong." 
His  concrete  argument  was  like  this :  "While  a 
negress  may  not  be  my  equal  in  everything,  in 
the  right  to  eat  the  bread  which  her  own  hand 
has  earned,  she  is  my  equal,  and  the  equal  of 
every  one  else." 

A  moment's  reflection  will  render  conclusive 
the  view  that  these  arguments  are  based  on  a 


MENTAL  AND  MORAL  NATURES        219 

solid  foundation,  and  that  the  only  ways  to  con- 
found those  arguments  would  be,  in  the  first  case, 
to  establish  the  proposition  that  the  negro  is  one 
of  the  lower  animals,  as  the  horse  or  the  hog, 
and  in  the  second  place  that  the  strong  has  a 
right  to  steal  from  the  weak. 

Thus  it  is  apparent  that  the  springs  of  his  hon- 
esty and  integrity  of  purpose  welled  up  from  his 
intellect,  and  that  his  conscience  was  not  a  deri- 
vation from  either  the  fear  of  retribution,  or  from 
pride  of  character;  but  was  rather  a  product 
of  logical  perception  and  the  eternal  fitness  of 
things.  He  knew  that  if  he  introduced  alcohol  or 
tobacco  into  the  fine  tissues  of  his  system,  evil 
consequences  would  ensue;  he  equally  knew  that 
if  he  harbored  a  fallacy  in  his  meditations  or 
practices,  a  disconnected  and  fallacious  conclu- 
sion would  be  inevitable.  As  early  as  in  1849, 
at  least,  he  realized  (though  he  did  not  act  in 
unison  with  the  belief)  that  the  retributive  jus- 
tice of  God  awaited  this  nation  for  the  awful  sin 
of  chattel  slavery.  It  is  equally  certain,  and  well 
attested  from  many  statements  made  in  his  state 
papers  and  elsewhere,  that  he  also  recognized  a 
consecutive  order  and  method  in  the  interven- 
tion of  Deity  in  the  affairs  of  men,  and  that  it 
was  the  duty  of  the  moralist  to  grope  deep  and 
search  for  the  ultimate  solution  of  all  moral 
problems.    One  of  his  favorite  expressions  was : 

There's  a  divinity  that  shapes  our  ends, 
Rough-hew  them  how  we  may. 

And  this  seems  to  have  conveyed  to  him  a  deeper 
meaning  than  a  merely  trite  proverb.  He  be- 
lieved that  all  human  actions  were  the  result  of 
motives,  and  that  the  basis  of  motive  was  self- 


220  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

ishness;  utility  was  his  crucial  test;  he  had  no 
faith  in  disinterestedness,  not  even  in  his 
charities. 

Lincoln  had  a  remarkable  faculty  of  abstrac- 
tion from  the  cares  and  ills  of  life ;  ofttimes  he 
had  an  absent,  "far-away"  look,  the  same,  I  infer, 
that  was  attributed  to  his  mother. 

When  he  was  running  for  the  Presidency  in 
i860,  I  attended  the  great  mass-meeting  at 
Springfield,  and  going  directly  to  his  house, 
found  him  in  the  front  yard  watching  the  pro- 
cession, which  was  then  already  passing,  shook 
hands  with  him,  and  spoke  briefly. 

An  hour  later  I  returned  and  introduced  a 
friend.  After  speaking  to  the  newcomer,  he 
seized  me  by  the  hand,  and  gazmg  at  me  pecu- 
liarly, said :  "Whitney,  I've  not  had  hold  of  your 
hand  before."  I  corrected  him,  and  he  gazed  at 
me  with  a  dazed  look,  and  said  hesitatingly: 
"No !  I've  not  seen  you  before  to-day."  His 
mind  was  absent  at  our  former  greeting. 

In  his  social  conversation  on  serious  matters, 
and  in  his  forensic  and  political  speeches,  he 
rarely  made  use  of  anecdotes.  Biographers  state 
it  otherwise.  It  results  from  lack  of  familiarity 
with  their  subject;  knowing  of  his  anecdotal  pro- 
pensity in  his  hours  of  ease,  they  erroneously 

j  reason  that  the  propensity  must  be  universal  in 

;  his  practices,  and  that 

His  mouth   he  could   not  ope 
But  out  there  flew  a  trope; 

and  so  it  was  in  his  pastime,  but  not  in  his  busi- 
ness. The  sober,  practical,  business  Lincoln  and 
the  "madcap"  wag  Lincoln  were  two  totally  dif- 
ferent and  widely  contrasted  persons.     In  what 


MENTAL  AND  MORAL  NATURES       221 

speech  of  his  in  his  later  career  as  an  opponent  of 
slavery  can  a  single  anecdote  be  found  ? 

In  his  business  matters  he  was  the  incarnation 
of  logic  and  adaptation;  in  his  life  in  deshabille, 
he  was  the  incarnation  of  humor. 

He  thought  as  a  sage,  though  he  felt  as  a  man. 

Although  Mr.  Lincoln  was  often  frivolous 
in  expression,  he  always  was  dignified  in  char- 
acter. And  there  was  this  peculiarity  about  Mr. 
Lincoln's  pleasantry,  that  it  involved  no  idea  of 
contempt  or  degradation.  A  sense  of  superiority 
and  dignity  always  attended  him;  the  humorist 
in  his  nature  was  evanescent  and  temporary ;  the 
man  of  power,  dignity,  and  responsibility  was  in 
abeyance  for  limited  occasions.  While  he  ex- 
celled all  men  as  a  humorist,  this  preeminence 
gratified  no  ambition.  That  his  humor  ofttimes 
was  forced  and  simulated  was  palpable. 

Replying  to  an  impatient  exclamation  of 
George  Ashmun  over  one  of  Lincoln's  jokes,  the 
President  said :  "I  know  you  to  be  an  earnest, 
true  man,  but  if  I  could  not  find  a  vent  for  my 
feelings  in  this  way,  I  should  die." 

I  have  often  been  asked  by  scholarly  and 
intellectual  men  who  had  never  seen  Mr.  Lincoln, 
such  questions  as  these:  "How  did  Mr.  Lincoln 
strike  you  at  first  view  ?"  or  "How  did  he  impress 
you?"  "What  was  his  bearing?"  etc.,  etc.  My 
general  reply  to  all  such  questions  is  that  he  al- 
ways impressed  me  as  commonplace  and  infor- 
mal in  all  externals,  but  noble  and  dignified  in  all 
the  essentials  of  conduct  and  affairs ;  that  noth- 
ing in  intercourse  of  any  sort  with  him  savored 
of  meanness,  insincerity,  a  craven  or  timid  spirit, 
irresolution,  "backing  down,"  littleness,  vulgar- 


223  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

ity,  or  any  unmanly  thing  or  quality.  He  never 
obtruded  advice,  aid,  or  sympathy,  but  was  ready 
with  either  if  requested,  to  those  he  approved, 
but  not  to  such  as  he  did  not  approve.  His  sym- 
pathy was  not  exuberant  or  demonstrative,  nor 
yet  active,  except  when  he  must  act  as  in  the 
case  of  signing  death  warrants.  He  was 
not  mawkish  in  his  sympathy,  but  manly 
and  robust ;  the  woman  who  kneeled  to  him  in  the 
exuberance  of  gratitude  for  an  official  favor,  it 
will  be  remembered,  was  savagely  rebuked.  He 
was  not  cynical,  sardonic,  or  sarcastic  in  company. 
Although  he  was  frequently  annoyed,  he  did  not 
betray  his  feelings,  nor  did  any  outward  mani- 
festation at  the  time  escape  him,  unless  it  bore 
a  relation  to  business  or  some  substantial  thing. 
In  such  case  he  could  cut  the  Gordian  knot  with 
facility,  either  by  a  humorous  anecdote,  an 
adroit  evasion,  or  downright  denunciation,  if 
needful. 

I  have  known  leaders  in  society,  in  whose  pres- 
ence one  felt  always  uncomfortable  for  fear  of 
committing  some  faux  pas,  but  no  such  restraint 
need  be,  or  was,  in  fact,  felt  when  Lincoln  was 
the  social  censor;  for  he  required  a  great  social 
license  himself,  and  accorded  it  as  freely  to  oth- 
ers. Judge  Davis  may  be  said  to  have  had  a 
school  of  manners  and  deportment  on  the  circuit, 
but  Lincoln  was  the  court  jester  with  the  most 
abundant  license.  It  was  difficult  to  tell  by  ex- 
terior appearances  whom  Lincoln  really  liked 
and  whom  he  did  not,  except  in  extreme  cases. 
A  leading  lawyer  of  Danville  told  me  that  Lin- 
coln thoroughly  despised  him.  And  I  will  ven- 
ture to  say  that  of  the  hundred  or  more  lawyers 
whom  Lincoln  was  thoroughly  acquainted  with 


MENTAL  AND  MORAL  NATURES        223 

on  our  circuit,  not  ten  could  have  shown  a  sin- 
gle social  letter  from  him;  while  the  letters  to 
the  few  whom  he  did  honor  by  correspondence 
might  be  counted  by  hundreds.  Lincoln  really 
had  but  few  close  friends,  and  those  few  he  cher- 
ished in  his  heart  of  hearts. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  preeminent  greatness  lay  in  the 
combination  of  the  powers  of  analysis  and  syn- 
thesis. He  could  discover  and  unmask  a  fallacy 
more  completely  than  any  other  living  man ;  and 
he  could  define  a  moral,  political,  or  legal  issue 
more  perspicaciously  than  any  statesman  in 
American  history. 

In  the  debates  between  Lincoln  and  Douglas 
on  the  issue  of  the  extension  of  slavery  into  free 
territory,  the  latter  made  vain  attempts  to  divert 
or  obscure  the  true  issue.  Because  Mr.  Lincoln 
deprecated  the  repeal  of  the  time-honored  Mis- 
souri Compromise,  Douglas  sophistically  as- 
sumed that  he  wanted,  and  that  his  policy  im- 
plied, an  abolition  of  slavery ;  social  and  political 
equality  with  negroes ;  and  a  making  of,  and  en- 
forcing by,  law,  of  a  uniformity  of  pursuits,  prac- 
tices, and  social  life  throughout  the  Union. 

Those  who  read  Mr.  Lincoln's  speeches  will 
find  some  of  the  most  brilliant  exhibitions  of  dia- 
lectics in  political  literature  in  his  untangling  of 
the  knotted  threads  of  Douglas's  fallacious  and 
involved  statements,  made  with  a  view  and  ani- 
mus to  embarrass  and  confuse. 

Here  is  shown  one  of  Lincoln's  salient  points 
of  intellectual  character :  his  clear  and  unimpeded 
view  of  a  controverted  subject,  and  his  lucid  and 
terse  manner  and  terms  of  statement.  And  this 
involves  as  a  corollary  his  genius  for  unmasking 
and  exposing  all  fallacious  and  involved  state- 


224  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

ments,  thereby  dissevering  them  from  the  real 
issue. 

In  clearness  and  felicity  of  statement,  Lincoln 
was  like  Webster  or  Jefferson ;  in  remorseless 
logic  like  John  C.  Calhoun  or  John  Quincy 
Adams ;  in  fiery  and  impetuous  denunciation  like 
Henry  Clay  or  James  G.  Blaine.  Yet  he  equalled 
any  in  cogency  and  vigor,  and  exceeded  all  in 
simplicity  and  terseness. 

Nothing  within  the  wide  range  and  compass 
of  his  mental  view  passed  unchallenged ;  to  all 
events,  acts,  incidents,  accidents,  phenomena,  ob- 
jects of  vision  and  moral  propositions,  he  made 
the  highwayman's  demand,  "stand  and  deliver." 
Every  object  presented  to  his  physical  or  mental 
vision  conveyed  to  him  an  object  lesson;  from 
everything  actual  or  phantasmagorial  he  ex- 
tracted a  moral.  His  apparently  indifferent  gaze 
comprehended  and  included  every  element  of  the 
object  in  review;  he  was  an  eager  student,  under 
the  mask  and  disguise  of  nonchalance  and  dis- 
simulation; moral  objects,  which  were  chaotic 
and  heterogeneous  to  the  common  view,  were 
homogeneous,  orderly,  and  sequent  to  him.  He 
had  a  most  comprehensive  association  of  ideas; 
while  excluding  all  irrelevant  subjects  from 
the  one  under  discussion,  he  included  every  ele- 
ment that  was  pertinent,  and  educed  cognate,  al- 
lied, and  related  matters  that  none  but  he  would 
have  discerned.  Therefore,  he  strengthened 
every  subject  of  consideration  by  including  inci- 
dents which  none  but  himself  could  have  thought 
of,  as  well  as  by  eviscerating  those  which,  though 
passing  the  ordinary  view  unchallenged,  would 
be  halted,  arrested,  unmasked,  and  rejected  as 
irrelevant  by  his  critical  gaze. 


MENTAL  AND  MORAL  NATURES        225 

Such  was  the  strength  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  percep- 
tive faculties ;  but  he  was  equally  pronounced,  as 
I  have  foreshadowed,  in  his  reflective  ones. 
Having  himself  perceived  an  object  clearly  in  all 
its  parts,  he  joined  these  parts  together  by  causa- 
tion and  comparison,  with  the  result  that  his 
argument  was  a  composite,  logical,  and  sym- 
metrical whole. 

Mr.  Lincoln  never  went  to  the  extreme  limits 
of  his  mental  or  fortuitous  opportunities ;  never 
exhausted  his  subject;  always  and  in  all  consid- 
erations suggested  and  pointed  to  more  than  he 
developed,  invariably  leaving  much  unsaid.  His 
speeches  of  1854  on  the  restoration  of  the  Mis- 
souri Compromise,  apparently  exhausted  the 
"anti-extension  of  slavery"  argument;  but  his 
speeches  of  1856  on  the  same  subject  presented 
the  same  question  concretely,  according  to  the 
demands  of  current  history ;  and  his  speeches  of 
1858  and  1859  demonstrated,  by  the  trend  of  ac- 
tual events,  the  correctness  of  his  prior  logical 
divination.  His  last  studied  and  elaborate  speech, 
the  "Cooper  Institute"  speech,  was  his  most  or- 
nate and  most  comprehensive  historical  speech. 
His  first  Inaugural  was  still  a  new  presentation 
of  the  subject,  affording  many  texts  for  illustra- 
tion and  paraphrase. 

He  did  not  contest  with  opponents  or  princi- 
ples on  or  near  the  borders  of  debate,  took  no 
advantage  of  technicalities  or  his  adversaries' 
mistakes  or  weakness,  ascribed  no  malign  moral 
motives  to  flagitious  political  conduct.  Consid- 
ering the  individual  morality  of  wicked  political 
offenders  to  be  none  of  his  concern,  he  impaled 
such  offenders  on  the  spear  of  political  casuistry 
alone,  and  with  the  trenchant  blade  of  debate 


226  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

clove  in  twain  pernicious  political  principles,  and 
not  their  mischievous  advocate. 

Thus,  from  an  intellectual  standpoint,  Mr.  Lin- 
coln's forte  was  that  of  a  dialectic  architect  or 
builder.  Unerringly  he  constructed  from  loose 
facts,  principles,  morals,  ethics,  and  dialectics,  a 
complete  concrete  theory. 

A  singular  fact  connected  with  Mr.  Lincoln  is 
that  with  no  clearly  apparent  logical  reason  for 
it,  he  should  have  conceived  a  passionate  fond- 
ness for  the  study  of  geometry.  There  was  noth- 
ing within  his  ordinary  experience  to  lead  or 
even  point  to  this ;  he  was,  it  is  true,  a  surveyor, 
but  only  in  a  practical  application  of  right  angles, 
according  to  the  land  office  system  of  Mansfield. 
Evidently  his  penchant  for  the  study  of  geometry 
had  no  correlation  with  any  practical  experience 
or  speculative  fancy,  but  was  a  mere  interlude, 
with  no  apparent  association  or  inter-relation 
with  his  life-drama ;  yet,  singular  to  say,  Boling- 
broke  says:  "Mr.  Locke  .  .  .  recommends 
the  study  of  geometry,  even  to  those  who  have 
no  design  of  being  geometricians,  and  he  gives  a 
reason  for  it  .  .  .  that  although  such  per- 
sons may  forget  every  problem  that  has  been 
proposed,  and  every  solution  that  they  or  others 
have  given,  but  the  habit  of  pursuing  long  trains 
of  ideas  will  remain  with  them,  and  they  will 
pierce  through  the  mazes  of  sophism,  and  dis- 
cover a  latent  truth,  when  persons  who  have  not 
this  habit  will  never  find  it."  It  may  also,  in  this 
connection,  be  remarked  that  Quintilian  says: 
"No  man,  assuredly,  can  become  a  perfect  orator 
without  a  knowledge  of  geometry.  It  is  not  with- 
out reason  that  the  greatest  men  have  bestowed 
extreme  attention  on  this  science."    The  ultimate 


MENTAL  AND  MORAL  NATURES        227 

basis  of  Lincoln's  greatness  was  his  marvellous 
capacity  for  logical  deduction,  the  exhibition  of 
which  was  by  his  effective  and  fervid  oratory. 
And  it  would  thus  appear  that  he  pursued  the 
monitions  of  both  Locke  and  Quintilian,  though, 
probably,  without  knowing  of  either. 

To  Mr.  Gulliver,  he  said  that  the  term  "demon- 
strate" puzzled  him  while  he  was  a  student,  and 
that  he  investigated  till  he  ascertained  its  mean- 
ing. Whether  he  sought  to  acquire  the  art  of 
demonstration  by  the  study  of  Euclid,  or  pursued 
that  study  as  an  idle  fancy  or  congenial  pastime, 
cannot  be  known,  but  it  is  fair  to  suppose  that 
in  his  evolution  from  a  cornfield  logician  and  log- 
cabin  orator  to  the  ratiocination  of  the  joint- 
debate,  his  study  of  the  six  books  of  Euclid  held 
place. 

His  honesty  was  not  of  negative  ethical  obliga- 
tion merely,  as  "Thou  shall  not  steal,"  "Thou 
shalt  not  bear  false  witness,"  etc.,  but  was  an  ac- 
tive vital  law  of  his  being,  which  prompted  af- 
firmative performance  of  duty.  He  would  not 
misstate  or  conceal  a  mental  conviction  or  a  con- 
scientious scruple  when  he  believed  it  was  his 
duty  to  make  disclosures,  or  even  passively  ac- 
quiesce in  error,  though  policy  forbade,  any  more 
than  he  would  misstate  a  fact.  To  his  apprehen- 
sion, one  form  of  falsehood  was  as  nefarious  as 
the  other,  and  the  fact  that  one  form  might  be 
kept  concealed  while  the  other  was  disclosed,  was 
not  taken  into  consideration.  The  form  of  the 
falsehood  made  no  difference  to  him,  whether  it 
was  a  literal  lie,  an  evasion  or  suppression  of 
the  truth,  or  a  mental  reservation,  when  he  was 
bound  by  ideal  honor  to  speak.  Thus,  in  his 
earlier  anti-slavery  speeches,  he  deemed  it  to  be 


228  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

his  duty  to  avow  certain  conservative  sentiments, 
as  his  adhesion  to  the  fugitive-slave  law,  etc., 
and  he  did  it  with  emphasis,  although  it  was 
grossly  against  the  most  relentless  prejudices  of 
his  disciples  and  seriously  injured  his  political 
standing.  The  incident  of  the  "house-divided- 
against-itself"  speech  illustrates  this  tendency,  as 
well  as  his  moral  courage  and  the  good  policy  of 
honesty  in  its  ultimate  effects.  The  result  was, 
as  was  clearly  foreshadowed,  that  the  voters  in 
the  State  who  had  emigrated  from  Kentucky  and 
Tennessee,  and  who  would  have  sustained  Lin- 
coln as  a  Whig,  were  frightened  off,  and  voted 
for  the  "Douglas"  candidates,  and  thus  defeated 
Lincoln  for  the  Senate. 

This  tendency  is  exhibited  in  another  manner. 
On  January  14,  1862,  Simon  Cameron  was 
forced  out  of  the  Cabinet  by  popular  odium ;  and 
in  the  succeeding  April  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives by  a  large  majority  passed  a  resolution  of 
censure  of  some  of  his  official  acts.  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  under  no  especial  obligation  to  shield  Cam- 
eron, but  he  sent  a  special  message  to  Congress, 
saying:  "I  should  be  wanting  in  candor  and  in 
justice  if  I  should  leave  the  censure  ...  to 
rest  .  .  .  upon  Mr.  Cameron ;  .  .  .  not  only 
the  President  but  all  the  other  heads  of  depart- 
ments .  .  .  were,  at  least,  equally  responsible 
with  him."  And  it  took  an  heroic  man  to  defend 
anything  that  Cameron  did. 

This  same  trait  was  exhibited  in  a  minor  way 
in  a  letter  dated  July  13,  1863,  addressed  to  Gen- 
eral Grant,  in  which  he  says :  "When  you  turned 
northward  ...  I  feared  it  was  a  mistake.  I 
now  wish  to  make  the  personal  acknowledgment 
that  you   were   right  and   I  was  wrong,"     To 


MENTAL  AND  MORAL  NATURES        229 

Sherman,  on  December  26,  1864,  he  writes  :  "The 
undertaking  [Savannah  campaign]  being  a  suc- 
cess, the  honor  is  all  yours ;  for  I  believe  none  of 
us  went  further  than  to  acquiesce." 

And  this  quality  is  shown  in  a  much  more 
heroic  exhibition,  by  his  letter  to  Joseph  Hooker, 
of  January  26,  1863,  from  which  I  make  these 
extracts :  "I  have  placed  you  at  the  head  of  the 
Army  .  .  .  but  I  think  that  during  [your  pred- 
ecessor, General  Burnside's]  command  .  .  . 
you  have  .  .  .  thwarted  him  as  much  as  you 
could,  in  which  you  did  a  great  wrong  to  the 
Country  ...  I  have  heard  of  your  recently 
saying  that  both  the  Army  and  the  Government 
needed  a  Dictator.  .  .  .  What  I  now  ask  of 
you  is  military  success,  and  I  will  risk  the  Dicta- 
torship. ...  I  much  fear  that  the  spirit  you 
have  aided  in  infusing  into  the  Army  .  .  .  will 
now  turn  upon  you." 

And  his  contempt  for  falsehood  was  as  pro- 
nounced as  his  reverence  for  the  truth,  as  the  fol- 
lowing extract  from  the  joint  debate  at  Jonesboro' 
will  show.  Douglas  said  at  Joliet,  speaking  of 
Lincoln,  that  at  Ottawa  he  "made  him  tremble 
in  his  knees  so  that  he  had  to  be  carried  from 
the  platform.  He  laid  up  seven  days,"  etc.  Lin- 
coln: ".  .  .  there  was  not  a  word  of  truth  in 
it."  Douglas:  "Didn't  they  carry  you  off?" 
Lincoln:  "There;  that  question  illustrates  the 
character  of  this  man  Douglas  exactly.  He  says, 
'Didn't  they  carry  you  off?'  .  .  .  Yes,  they  did. 
But,  Judge  Douglas,  why  didn't  you  tell  the 
truth  ?  .  .  .  And  then  again :  'He  laid  up  for 
seven  days.'  He  puts  that  in  print  for  people  of 
the  country  to  read  as  a  serious  document  .  .  . 
I  don't  want  to  call  him  a  liar,  but  ...  I  don't 


»3°  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

know  what  else  to  call  him,  if  I  must  tell  the 
truth  out."  (All  this  was  of  an  episode  at  Ot- 
tawa, where  Lincoln's  friends  were  so  enthusiastic 
over  his  speech  that  they  forcibly  shouldered  him 
and  carried  him  off  the  ground,  to  Lincoln's  great 
disgust.) 

The  term  "honest,"  so  generally  applied  to 
Lincoln,  was  not  technical  but  comprehensive,  in- 
cluding candor,  sincerity,  single-mindedness,  in- 
corruptibility, kindness,  morality,  and  purity,  but 
not  mawkish  sentimentality  nor  impracticability. 
If  he  was  as  harmless  as  a  dove,  he  also  was  as 
wise  as  a  serpent,  and  he  employed  his  wisdom  as 
effectually  as  any  wise  and  strictly  honorable 
man  would ;  but  the  only  instances  that  I  ever 
heard  raised  against  him  any  sort  of  criticism  of 
personal  conduct  were  in  cases  where  the  con- 
crete claims  of  friendship  and  humanity  were  in 
conflict  with  abstract  duty,  for  it  was  a  practical 
belief  with  him  that  if  he  could  remove  moun- 
tains and  had  not  charity,  he  was  nothing;  and 
that  the  greatest  of  all  virtues  was  charity. 

In  ordinary  life  Mr.  Lincoln  was  to  the  end 
inartificial,  unsophisticated,  and  unassimilated. 
No  man  of  his  experience  ever  wore  his  rusticity 
in  its  newest  gloss  and  virgin  freshness  so  per- 
sistently. Although  his  progress  in  life  was  not 
devoid  of  enterprise,  yet  he  could  not  personate 
or  imitate  any  behavior  which  was  strained  or 
artificial.  There  were  candor  and  honesty  even 
in  his  manners  and  habits. 

Style  and  pretensions  made  no  impression  on 
him.    To  him, 


The  rank  is  but  the  guinea's  stamp, 
The  man's  the  gowd  for  a'  that. 


MENTAL  AND  MORAL  NATURES        *3l 

He  wanted  no  attendance  nor  restraint,  loved 
the  largest  liberty  of  all  kinds,  waited  on  him- 
self, even  to  the  performance  of  the  most  petty- 
errands.  He  never  had  a  clerk,  errand-boy,  or 
student,  of  his  own  will;  he  wrote  his  own  law 
pleadings  and  made  them  brief ;  he  never  used  a 
printedblank  in  his  life ;  he  respectfully  listened 
to  all  advice  and  rarely,  if  ever,  followed  it;  he 
kept  his  own  counsels,  and  asked  the  fewest 
favors  of  all  kinds  of  any  man  of  his  station. 

Imagine  a  lawyer  and  politician  of  his  rank 
going  out  on  the  "commons"  every  evening, 
searching  for,  driving  up,  and  milking  his  cow, 
cleaning  out  his  stable,  grooming  his  horse,  chop- 
ping and  carrying  in  wood  for  the  kitchen.  Yet 
Lincoln  did  all  of  these  things,  not  from  ostenta- 
tion or  eccentricity,  but  from  motives  of  the 
strictest  utility,  even  on  the  evening  of  May  18, 
i860,  when  the  telegraph  from  Maine  to  Califor- 
nia, and  from  Minnesota  to  Texas,  was  vocal  with 
his  name. 

His  disinclination  to  employ  a  clerk,  errand- 
boy,  or  servant  arose  from  his  self-reliance,  secre- 
tiveness,  and  absolute  desire  to  be  wholly  inde- 
pendent. After  he  was  elected,  Mrs.  Lincoln  pro- 
cured the  services  of  an  excellent  colored  man, 
but  Lincoln  dispensed  with  his  services  when- 
ever he  could.  At  one  time,  Lincoln  and  I  were 
going  on  a  short  railway  trip,  when  the  servant 
tried  to  carry  our  hand  baggage,  but  Lincoln 
could  not  relish  the  idea  of  a  servant  following 
him  with  a  slender  satchel,  so  he  devised  a  pre- 
text to  get  rid  of  him. 

The  only  account  books  he  ever  kept  were 
those  he  found  in  the  law  offices  of  Judge  Logan 
and  John  T.  Stuart ;  he  and  Herndon  kept  none 


232  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

in  their  partnership.  After  coming  to  Spring- 
field, he  never  went  in  debt  but  twice ;  once  when 
he  bought  his  residence  from  Mr.  Dresser,  he 
gave  his  note  for  the  deferred  payment  with  a 
mortgage  on  the  property  as  security;  again 
when  he  started  to  Washington  on  February  n, 
1861,  he  borrowed  enough  to  last  for  necessary 
expenses  of  his  family,  till  he  could  acquire  a 
month's  payment  for  services.  His  simplicity  in 
financial  matters  was  almost  childish.  In  1856, 
when  he  was  a  "Fremont"  elector-at-large, 
knowing  that  he  paid  his  own  bills  on  the  can- 
vass, I  raised  the  sum  of  $35  in  our  county 
when  he  attended  our  mass-meeting,  and  waited 
on  him  at  the  hotel,  where  I  gave  it  to  him.  I 
recollect  his  embarrassment;  he  looked  at  the 
money  and  then  at  the  Committee  sheepishly. 
"What  will  I  do  with  it?"  said  he.  "Put  it  in 
your  pocket  and  keep  it  there,"  was  the  reply. 
He  did  so,  but  deemed  it  necessary  to  make  a 
protest.  "Don't  you  fellows  do  that  again,"  said 
he  humorously. 

On  a  similar  subject,  my  old  and  valued  friend, 
William  D.  Somers,  Esq.,  for  many  years  the 
leading  lawyer  of  Champaign  County,  has  sent 
me  this  anecdote,  which  illustrates  the  same  trait, 
and  which  I  reproduce  in  his  own  words : 

In  1855,  George  High  was  confined  in  the  Urbana 
jail  under  two  indictments  for  horse-stealing.  He  sent 
for  me  to  call  and  see  him  with  reference  to  assisting 
in  his  defence,  some  time  before  the  sitting  of  the 
Court,  and  intimated  his  desire  that  I  should  associate 
Lincoln  with  me  in  his  behalf. 

When  Lincoln  came,  as  was  his  custom,  to  attend 
Court,  I  went  with  him  to  consult  our  client.  We 
found  his  wife  with  him  in  the  jail.  After  consulting 
about  the   matter   of   the  defence,   the   subject   of   our 


MENTAL  AND  MORAL  NATURES        233 

fee  came  up,  when  High  said  he  had  but  $10, 
which  he  handed  to  Lincoln.  Lincoln,  seeing  from  the 
condition  of  the  wife  that  she  would  soon  need  pecu- 
niary assistance,  asked  High :  "How  about  your  wife, 
will  she  not  need  this?"  He  was  answered  that  she 
would  get  along  somehow.  Lincoln  then  gave  her 
$5  of  the  money,  and  divided  the  balance  between  him- 
self and  me,  $2.50  to  each. 

That,  probably,  was  all  he  received  for  de- 
fending the  most  noted  horse-thief  in  Illinois. 

Lincoln  was  unexceptionable  in  his  personal 
habits,  but  careless  of  his  outer  dress  as  to  style, 
being  sedulous  merely  to  make  it  go  as  far  as  it 
would.  His  appearance  on  the  circuit  was  that 
of  an  Illinois  farmer  visiting  town,  adorned  with 
his  second-best  clothes.  He  wore  the  same  suit 
till  it  was  threadbare,  and  the  same  hat  till  its 
nap  existed  no  longer,  save  as  a  reminiscence.  A 
short  blue  cloak,  quite  the  style  during  the  Mexi- 
can War  (he  had  acquired  it  while  in  Congress), 
and  extremely  unbecoming  to  one  of  his  length 
of  legs,  he  wore  as  long  as  in  1856.  An  umbrella, 
originally  olive  green,  but  faded  to  a  dingy 
brown,  he  carried  around  the  circuit  for 
ten  years ;  he  had  the  letters  comprising  his  name 
cut  out  of  domestic  and  sewed  on  the  inside ;  the 
knob  was  gone  when  I  first  knew  him.  His 
night-dress  was  a  coarse,  home-made,  yellow 
woollen-flannel  gown.  His  attire  cost  less  than 
that  of  any  man  in  the  State  associated  with 
others.  He  had  not  only  no  talent  to  dress  well, 
but  equally  no  physique  to  display  dress.  He  put 
on  no  style  anywhere ;  he  did  not  defy  or  contemn 
fashion  or  custom,  but  was  oblivious  of  it.  He 
could  not  have  been 

A  glass  of  fashion  and  a  mould  of  form 


234  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

had  he  tried ;  tailors  could  do  little  for  him.  In 
all  things  he  was  unique,  and  not  susceptible  to 
conventionality  or  to  polish. 

The  antithetical  character  of  Mr.  Lincoln  is 
again  illustrated  by  the  wide  contrast  between  his 
exterior  and  formal  guilelessness  and  simplicity 
of  nature,  and  the  depth  of  finesse,  sagacity,  and 
diplomacy  which  that  exterior  simplicity  masked 
and  concealed.  He  was  instinctively  a  politician 
as  well  as  a  statesman ;  these  several  roles  are 
not  diverse,  but  the  latter  is  an  amplification  of 
the  former.  A  politician  is  a  statesman  in  em- 
bryo, and  a  statesman  is  an  enlarged  politician. 
The  campaign  of  1858  illustrates  this  subject. 
While  ostensibly  it  was  a  contest  for  a  Senator- 
ship,  in  reality  it  was  the  vestibule  to  the  White 
House.  That  this  was  so,  as  far  as  Douglas  was 
concerned,  was  not  disguised,  but  Lincoln's  equal 
design  was  masked  by  speech,  which,  like  that 
of  Talleyrand,  was  employed  to  conceal  his 
thoughts. 

That  Lincoln  understood  the  occult  trend  of 
this  discussion  is  clear  by  many  tests.  Douglas 
was  so  incautious  as  to  interrogate  Lincoln  pub- 
licly. Lincoln  seized  the  golden  opportunity  thus 
presented  to  impale  his  antagonist  on  one  horn 
or  the  other  of  a  political  dilemma,  by  which  he 
must  lose  either  the  Senatorship  or  the  Presi- 
dency, and  Douglas,  in  saving  his  standing  at 
home,  lost  that  which  he  had  acquired  in  the  en- 
tire nation.  Contrariwise,  Lincoln  not  only  pre- 
served his  local  reputation,  but  gained  a  national 
one.  He  also  not  only  held  his  party  allegiance 
to  the  Whigs,  but  gained  the  allegiance  of  the 
Abolitionists.  He  played  a  consummate  political 
game,  and  played  it  like  a  master  of  the  art.    He 


MENTAL  AND  MORAL  NATURES        235 

consciously  and  designedly  baited  his  political 
hook  with  the  Senatorship  for  the  Presidency, 
losing  the  sprat  to  catch  the  herring. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  peculiar  in  his  social  attach- 
ments, nor  were  they  controlled  at  all  by  geo- 
detic propinquity.  His  adhesion  to  men  was  the 
result  of  congenial  qualities,  regardless  of  mathe- 
matical or  external  considerations  of  any  sort, 
his  geographical  neighbors  could  not  define  what 
he  was,  except  outwardly,  simply  because  he  did 
not  disclose  himself  to  them.  His  most  cherished 
friends  did  not  live  in  Springfield  at  all,  and  with 
the  exceptions  of  Herndon,  Logan,  Stuart,  Du- 
bois, and  Matheny,  the  Springfield  people  knew 
nothing  of  him  especially,  beyond  what  they 
gleaned  by  seeing  him  pass  through  their  streets, 
and  hearing  him,  sometimes  in  a  cheery,  and 
sometimes  in  an  absent-minded,  way,  say,  "How- 
dye!  Hoivdyel"  as  a  passing  salute.  Jesse  K. 
Dubois  served  with  Lincoln  in  the  early  legisla- 
tures, and  became  very  intimate  then,  which  in- 
timacy was  increased  when  Dubois  was  elected 
State  Auditor  in  1856,  and  lived  thence  till  1861 
within  sight  of  Lincoln's  house.  Five  days  be- 
fore the  assassination,  Dubois  wrote  me :  "I  have 
been  intimately  associated  with  Lincoln  for 
twenty-five  years,  but  I  now  find  out  that  I  never 
knew  him." 

At  Washington,  Lincoln  was  brought  in  close 
relations  with  many  men  of  illustrious  talents, 
but  how  few  had  any  mental  insight  into  the 
man?  Yet  he  was  not  a  Machiavelli  or  a  Tal- 
leyrand ;  he  had  no  duplicity,  deceit,  or  affirma- 
tive dissimulation;  but  he  had  a  peculiar  ability 
to  mind  his  own  business  and  keep  his  own  coun- 
sels without  being  offensive,  which  amounted  to 


236  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

genius.  To  the  limited  few  who  possessed  his 
confidence,  he  was  as  unreserved  in  most  particu- 
lars as  men  in  ordinary,  but  to  what  I  may  term 
the  exterior  world — that  portion  outside  his  con- 
fidence— he  was  impenetrable.  While  to  outward 
appearance  he  was  brought  face  to  face,  and  was 
en  rapport  with  the  whole  nation  for  four  years, 
he  occupied,  in  fact,  the  chair  of  state,  "a  sceptred 
hermit,  wrapped  in  the  solitude  of  his  own 
originality." 

For  some  men,  Lincoln  had  special  uses,  and 
the  social  ligature  was  limited  to  that  narrow 
utility;  for  others  the  affinity  was  catholic.  To 
an  intimate  who  had  mistakenly  supposed  that 
he  placed  much  reliance  on  the  counsels  of  David 
Davis,  judge  of  our  circuit,  he  explained  away 
the  error  by  this  illustration :  ''They  had  side 
judges  down  in  New  Hampshire,  and  to  show  the 
folly  of  the  system,  one  who  had  been  a  side 
judge  for  twenty  years  said  the  only  time  the 
chief  judge  ever  consulted  him  was  at  the  close 
of  a  long  day's  session,  when  he  turned  to  the 
side  judge  and  whispered:  'Don't  your  back 
ache  ?' "  And  Davis  himself  narrates  that  Lin- 
coln never  consulted  him  but  once  or  twice. 

On  the  other  hand,  he  had  some  general  and 
genuine  friendships,  which  ranged  throughout 
the  entire  gamut  of  correlative  social  amenities, 
and  to  such  friendships,  his  loyalty  and  constancy 
were  inflexible.  He  never  sacrificed  a  friend  at 
the  behest  of  personal  policy  or  menace,  but  over 
and  over  again  he  sacrificed  policy  and  safety 
by  reason  of  his  loyalty  and  devotion  to  friend- 
ship. This  trait  I  know  in  circumstance  and  de- 
tail, and  I  therefore  affirm  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
the  most  firm,  sincere,  and  unyielding  devotee  to 


MENTAL  AND  MORAL  NATURES       237 

the  sacred  cause  of  friendship  that  I  ever  saw, 
and  whenever  his  sense  of  obligation  to  duty  pre- 
vented his  allowance  of  the  claims  of  friendship, 
it  gave  him  more  pain  than  it  did  the  disap- 
pointed one. 

An  excellent  test  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  high  nobility 
of  character  and  nature  was  his  kindness  and 
mercy.  I  never  knew  a  brave  and  courageous 
man  to  be  so  abnormally  sensitive  about  his  own 
acts ;  he  touched  the  world  with  bare  nerves,  and 
suffered  in  secret  more  than  was  ever  known  or 
ever  will  be  revealed  about  matters  which,  within 
the  orbit  of  his  great  responsibilities,  should  be 
deemed  to  be  extremely  trivial.  Once,  on  the 
steps  of  the  War  Department,  he  confided  one  of 
his  minor  sorrows  to  me,  to  secure  my  sympathy, 
apparently.  I  tried  to  make  him  relinquish  it. 
He  listened  assentingly  to  my  casuistry,  but  dis- 
missed the  subject  with  the  conclusion :  "I  know 
all  that  as  well  as  you  do,  but  I  can't  get  over 
it,"  and  he  turned  sadly  away. 

Confidence  was  not  only  a  very  slow  growth 
with  Mr.  Lincoln,  but  was  an  extremely  rare 
growth  as  well,  nor  was  it  withdrawn  for  any 
but  extreme  reasons ;  and  when  Lincoln's  confi- 
dence was  betrayed  or  forfeited  for  social  mis- 
demeanors, he  took  it  to  heart  and  brooded  over 
it  in  genuine  agony  of  mind.  I  recollect  find- 
ing him  on  the  train  at  midnight  at  Champaign, 
en  route  to  Chicago,  and  I  accompanied  him ;  and 
T.  Lyle  Dickey  having  just  before  announced  to 
me  his  political  recusancy,  I  told  the  news  to 
Lincoln.  The  latter  had  not  expected  it,  and 
I  shall  never  forget  the  tremulous  tones  in  which 
he  lamented  the  loss  of  this,  one  of  his  thitherto 
most  cherished  friends.    It  touched  his  innermost 


238  'LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

soul,  and  he  almost  groaned  in  spirit  at  the  re- 
flection. 

By  reference  to  the  literature  to  be  found  in 
Mr.  Lincoln's  letters,  messages,  and  speeches,  it 
will  appear  that  he  had  an  exquisite  taste  for  the 
ideal,  and  a  wealth  of  imagery  and  metaphor  al- 
most miraculous  for  an  uneducated  man.  His 
poetical  taste  attested  alike  his  refinement  of 
mind  and  mental  gravitation  toward  the  weird, 
sombre,  and  mystical.  In  his  normal  and  tran- 
quil state  of  mind,  "The  Last  Leaf,"  by  Oliver 
Wendell  Holmes,  was  his  favorite  in  the  whole 
wide  expanse  of  reflective  literature.  Over  and 
over  again  I  have  heard  him  repeat: 

The  mossy  marbles  rest 

On  the  lips  that  he  has  prest 

In  their  bloom : 
And  the   names  he  loved  to  hear 
Have  been  carved  for  many  a  year 

On  the  tomb ! 

and  tears  would  come  unbidden  to  his  eyes,  prob- 
ably at  thought  of  the  grave  at  Gentryville,  or 
that  in  the  bend  of  the  Sangamo. 

Herndon  wrote  to  me  of  this  poem :  "I  have 
heard  Lincoln  recite  it,  praise  it,  laud  it,  and 
swear  by  it ;  it  took  him  in  all  moods  and  fastened 
itself  on  him  as  never  poem  on  man.  This  I 
know." 

The  other  favorite  poetry  of  Lincoln  was  for 
particular  moods.  "The  Inquiry,"  by  Charles 
Mackay ;  "Oh,  Why  Should  the  Spirit  of  Mortal 
be  Proud?"  by  William  Knox;  and  a  passage 
from  "Childe  Harold,"  were  attuned  to  single 
phases  of  his  existence.  His  feelings  tended  to 
the  mystical,  the  weird,  and  the  melancholy,  and 


MENTAL  AND  MORAL  NATURES        239 

when  his  sympathies  were  steeped  in  the  bitter 
waters  of  Marah,  he  would  break  out  in  the 
dirge-like  lamentation,  "Oh,  Why  Should  the 
Spirit  of  Mortal  be  Proud?" 

In  no  mode  were  his  sagacity  and  diplomacy 
employed  to  better  advantage  than  in  his  urbanity 
and  his  close  affiliation  with  the  people.  By  a 
figure  of  thought,  as  it  were,  the  ruler  of  any 
nation  in  arms  stands  as  the  exponent  of  the 
stake  contested  for.  The  patriotism  of  the 
nation  rallied  to  the  slogan  of 

We  are  coming,  Father  Abraham,  300,000  strong, 

and  the  mercy  of  the  great-hearted  President, 
though  it  weakened  the  army  discipline  directly, 
yet  it  strengthened  it  in  its  ultimate  sources  of 
support,  by  identifying  the  wishes,  welfare,  and 
earnest  desires  of  the  loved  and  revered  Presi- 
dent with  the  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war. 
If  Mr.  Lincoln  had  been  animated  with  the  un- 
bending and  imperious  spirit  of  discipline  of  Jef- 
ferson Davis,  no  spirit  of  enthusiasm  would  have 
animated  the  "three  hundred  thousand,"  if,  in- 
deed, they  had  come  at  all  at  his  call.  That 
philanthropy  and  mercy  were  the  dominant  mo- 
tives of  his  frequent  exercise  of  mercy  and  of  his 
many  acts  of  beneficence,  is  undoubted,  but  his 
administration  is  replete  with  instances  of  his 
courting,  cultivating,  cajoling,  and  soliciting  the 
favor  of  the  people,  of  his  identifying  himself 
with  them,  of  his  making  the  people  and  himself 
homogeneous. 

Volumes  are  expressed  in  one  sentence  of  Fred 
Douglass,  "He  is  the  only  man  I  ever  talked  to 
for  ten  minutes,  who  didn't,  in  some  way,  give 


24°  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

me  to  understand  that  I  was  a  nigger,"  and  yet 
he  told  the  deputation  of  colored  men  who  came 
to  consult  him  about  the  future  of  their  race,  and 
without  offence,  that  their  race  was  different 
from  his,  and  could  not  exist  in  the  same  nation 
in  harmony  with  it. 


CHAPTER    XIII 

FREE-SOIL   ADVOCATE 

It  so  happened  in  the  year  1853  that  Stephen 
A.  Douglas,  of  Illinois,  and  William  A.  Richard- 
son, also  of  Illinois,  were  chairmen,  respectively, 
of  the  ''Committees  on  Territories"  in  their  re- 
spective houses,  one  of  the  Senate  and  the  other 
of  the  Lower  House,  and  to  those  committees 
would  belong  the  duty  of  reporting,  or  consider- 
ing, any  measure  for  the  legal  organization  of  the 
Territory  of  Kansas,  or  of  Nebraska,  as  it  was 
then  called. 

Judge  Douglas  was  an  aggressive  and  pro- 
gressive statesman,  and,  as  quickly  as  any  one,  saw 
the  growing  necessity  of  the  case,  to  meet  which, 
during  the  short  session  of  1852-3,  he  drew  up, 
and  reported  from  his  committee,  a  bill  to  organ- 
ize the  Territory  of  Nebraska,  embracing  the 
region  which  is  now  the  States  of  Nebraska,  Kan- 
sas, and  part  of  Colorado,  but  it  failed  to  become 
a  law,  simply  for  want  of  necessary  time. 

This  bill  merely  embodied  the  technical  and 
ordinary  features  of  a  territorial  bill,  and  con- 
tained no  elements  of  disputation.  There  was  ap- 
parently no  opportunity  for  objection  or  criti- 
cism ;  the  necessity  for  organization  was  apparent 
in  this,  that  emigrants  were  already  occupying 
the  country,  and  the  land  should  be  surveyed,  so 
as  to  assure  titles  to  them,  and  courts  and  legis- 

241 


242  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

lature  and  an  executive  should  be  established,  in 
order  to  guarantee  to  the  settlers  "life,  liberty, 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness." 

A  political  bargain  had  been  entered  into 
thirty-two  years  before,  between  the  slave  power 
and  the  exponents  of  freedom,  by  the  terms  and 
observances  of  which  slavery  had  gained  a  large 
State  north  of  the  true  dividing  line  between 
freedom  and  slavery,  and  the  advocates  of  free- 
dom had  simply  the  unfulfilled  assurance  that  the 
advocates  of  slavery  would  make  no  further  at- 
tempts to  introduce  it  north  of  that  line. 

Judge  Douglas  had  publicly  avowed  that  this 
bargain  was  sacred — "was  canonized  in  the 
hearts  of  the  people" — and  that  no  "ruthless 
hand"  would  disturb  it.  David  R.  Atchison, 
then  a  United  States  Senator  living  on  the  bor- 
der line  of  Missouri,  and  at  that  time  President 
of  the  Senate,  had  publicly  announced  that  this 
compromise  was  a  finality,  and  no  thought  ex- 
isted in  any  responsible  mind  that  this  compro- 
mise could  be  abrogated.  Still  there  was  even 
then  a  little  ground  for  misgiving;  irresponsible 
newspapers  in  the  South  began  to  carp  at  the 
Compromise;  fault  was  found  that  the  Illinois 
farmer  could  go  to  Nebraska  with  all  of  his 
property,  while  the  Missouri  planter  must  either 
keep  out  or  leave  his  most  valuable  property, 
viz.,  his  negroes,  behind.  The  Southerners  gen- 
erally, in  speaking  of  the  Compromise,  berated  it, 
and  avowed  that  it  was  wrung  from  their  neces- 
sities ;  the  Southern  statesmen  who  had  enacted 
it  pretty  well  satisfied  their  constituents  at  the 
time,  but  they  had  generally , passed  away,  and 
the  then  existing  delegations  must  meet  the  ex- 
igencies, necessities,  and  prejudices  of  that  time. 


FREE-SOIL  ADVOCATE  243 

Some  outside  discussion  had  taken  place  at  the 
time  when,  in  1853,  the  bill  had  been  first  offered, 
which  disclosed  a  possibility  that  at  least  the  dis- 
pleasure of  the  Southerners  would  be  expressed 
at  their  exclusion  from  this  Territory  with  their 
slaves. 

This  prejudice  was  not  appeased,  nor  these  ob- 
jurgations stilled,  by  efflux  of  time ;  and  seeming 
to  fear  that  some  effort  would  be  made  expressly 
to  take  some  note  of  the  Compromise,  and  thus 
produce  friction,  Senator  Douglas,  on  January  4, 
1854,  proposed  an  entirely  new  bill,  similar  to  the 
preceding  one,  but  accompanied  the  same  by  a 
special  report,  in  which  he  expressly  recom- 
mended that  the  Missouri  Compromise  be  neither 
affirmed  nor  repealed — the  idea  being,  probably, 
that  the  Supreme  Court,  then  having  a  pro- 
slavery  cast,  might  be  invoked  to  pass  on  its  con- 
stitutionality. Mutterings  were  heard  on  the 
Southern  side  of  the  chamber,  as  of  parties  who 
deemed  themselves  unfairly  treated,  but  being 
without  redress ;  but  no  well-defined  fears  of  any 
sort  were  anticipated.  On  the  16th  of  January, 
however,  Senator  Dixon,  of  Kentucky,  his 
prejudice  in  favor  of  the  institution  of  slavery 
and  against  the  Missouri  Compromise  being 
more  intense  than  any  other,  arose  in  his  place 
and  gave  notice  that  in  due  and  proper  time  he 
would  offer  an  amendment  to  the  territorial  bill, 
repealing  the  Missouri  Compromise  in  express 
terms.  On  the  succeeding  day,  Senator  Sumner 
gave  notice  that  he  would  propose  an  amend- 
ment expressly  recognizing  the  vital  force  and 
authority  of  the  Compromise.  Thus  the  gage  of 
battle  was  thrown  down  by  the  South  and  taken 
up  promptly  by  the  North.     There  could  be  no 


»44  'LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

middle  ground ;  that  the  South  would  stand 
united  to  repeal  the  Missouri  Compromise  was 
apparent  and  probable ;  that  that  powerful  politi- 
cal faction  would  disinherit  any  Northern  ally 
who  should  desert  them  in  this  crisis  was  equally 
sure,  and  that  the  free  States  would  constitute 
a  clear-cut  and  relentless  opposition  was  quite  as 
well  foreseen. 

Douglas  had  been  the  favorite  candidate  of 
the  young  and  progressive  Democracy  for  the 
Presidency  as  early  as  185 1,  immediately  after  the 
settlement  of  the  slavery  question  then,  and  had 
not  his  friends  treated  the  veteran  statesmen  of 
the  party,  Cass,  Dickinson,  Marcy,  Toucy,  and 
that  class,  with  superciliousness  and  disdain, 
he  would  have  been  nominated  and  elected  in 
1852.  He  had  not,  however,  seriously  damaged 
his  political  standing  at  this  time,  but  it  was  clear 
that  the  time  was  now  come  when  he  could 
no  longer  hope  to  serve  two  masters ;  he  must 
either  pander  to  the  views  of  the  South,  or  he 
must  abandon  the  political  heresies  urged  by 
that  intemperate  section.  This  necessity  was  im- 
mediately pressed  home  upon  him  by  David  R. 
Atchison,  who  informed  him,  that,  unless  he  was 
prepared  to  incorporate  into  the  committee  bill 
a  clause  expressly  repealing  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise, the  party  expected  him  to  resign  his 
place  as  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Terri- 
tories, in  which  event  he,  Atchison,  was  to  resign 
the  Presidency  of  the  Senate,  and  take  Douglas' 
place.  Let  it  be  recollected  that  at  this  time  there 
was  but  one  political  party  of  any  vitality  in  the 
field;  at  the  prior  Presidential  election  Pierce 
had  carried  every  State  but  four.  Clay  and 
Webster,  the  great  leaders  of  the  Whig  party, 


FREE-SOIL  "ADVOCATE  245 

had  died  in  that  same  year ;  Seward  had  hardly 
attained  a  national  leadership,  and  the  strong  men 
of  the  Whig  party,  Clayton,  Badger,  Benjamin, 
Toombs,  Stephens,  and  J.  C.  Jones  were  South- 
erners, and  on  the  test  question  of  the  repeal  of 
the  Missouri  Compromise  would  doubtless  affili- 
ate with  the  Southern  Democrats.  The  Aboli- 
tionists had  no  healthy  political  organization,  and, 
to  a  politician's  eye,  the  alternative  appeared  to 
be  offered  to  Douglas  either  to  quit  politics  or 
consent  to  the  repeal  of  the  time-honored  Com- 
promise. 

Douglas  could  not  deliberate  long,  the  impla- 
cable Dixon  being  ready  and  anxious  to  take  the 
"laboring  oar,"  and  even  if  he  should  fail,  Atchi- 
son and  others  being  quite  as  eager.  So  Douglas, 
thus,  at  the  point  of  divergence,  took  the  wide 
gate  and  broad  road  which  led  to  political 
damnation.  That  he  knew  the  measure  he  was 
about  to  espouse  was  morally  and  politically 
wrong  can  scarcely  admit  of  doubt;  he  had  de- 
nounced in  advance  any  possible  violation  of  this 
compromise;  he  had  introduced  two  different 
bills  without  proposing  its  repeal ;  he  had  vainly 
remonstrated  with  Dixon  on  that  subject.  Still, 
waiving  the  moral  question,  it  would  appear, 
that  in  the  stress  of  circumstances  in  which 
Douglas  was  placed,  his  decision  was  the  expe- 
dient one ;  he  was,  on  the  whole,  the  most  con- 
spicuous leader  of  the  only  political  party  in  the 
nation,  of  any  courage.  With  his  aid,  the  meas- 
ure would  certainly  pass,  and  he  would  as  cer- 
tainly attain  the  Presidency  in  1856,  after  which 
the  deluge  might  come.  He  took  no  account  of 
the  reserved  force  of  the  people.  In  addition, 
even  if  things  should  go  awry,  he  had  five  years 


246  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

yet  in  the  Senate,  upon  which  he  must  render  an 
account  of  his  stewardship,  and  as  he  had  suc- 
ceeded, only  two  years  before,  in  placating  the 
people's  wrath  for  his  vote  on  the  Compromise 
measures,  he  deemed  it  reasonably  clear  that  he 
could  do  so  again,  if  needs  were,  in  1858.  Upon 
a  balancing  of  chances,  he  decided  to  commit  the 
bark  which  carried  him  and  his  fortunes  to  the 
political  tide  which  flowed  toward  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  and  having  decided  to  enter  into  a  quar- 
rel with  fate,  he  resolved  to  bear  it  so  that  fate 
should  beware  of  him  for  the  future. 

Having  thus  decided,  he  visited  Senator  Dixon 
(who  was  temporarily  ill)  at  his  lodgings  and 
invited  him  to  take  a  ride,  during  which  he  so- 
licited the  honor  and  danger  of  being  the  cham- 
pion of  the  repeal  of  the  Compromise — a  distinc- 
tion which  was  generously  accorded.  So  on  Jan- 
uary 23  he  reported  a  substitute  for  his  original 
bill,  making  two  Territories  instead  of  one,  and 
he  incorporated  a  clause  repealing  the  Missouri 
Compromise,  on  the  alleged  ground  that  it  had 
been  "superseded  by"  the  compromise  measures 
of  1850, — as  flimsy  and  fallacious  a  pretext  as 
could  be  conceived  of.  When  this  substitute  was 
presented,  there  was  great  excitement  all  over 
the  nation.  Had  the  substitution  of  a  king  for 
our  Constitutional  executive  been  suggested,  the 
alarm  could  scarcely  have  been  greater,  for  the 
public  mind  recalled  the  relentless  advance  of 
slavery  toward  imperial  power,  and  saw  in  this 
movement  a  longer  stride  toward  national  slavery 
than  had  ever  before  been  dared. 

The  bill  came  up  for  consideration  on  the  next 
day,  but  was,  by  common  consent,  made  a  special 
order  for  the  30th  instant,  and  immediately  an 


FREE-SOIL  ADVOCATE  247 

address  was  drafted  by  Senator  Chase  and  is- 
sued to  the  people  of  the  North,  showing  the 
flagitious  character  of  the  measure  and  urging 
that  the  political  power  of  the  people  be  exerted 
in  opposition.  It  received  the  signatures  of  Sen- 
ators Chase,  Hale,  and  Sumner,  and  Representa- 
tives Gerrit  Smith,  Benjamin  F.  Wade,  Alex- 
ander R.  Dewitt,  and  Joshua  R.  Giddings.  The 
country  responded  to  the  excitement  in  Con- 
gress, and  no  political  event,  neither  the  dead- 
lock between  Jefferson  and  Burr,  nor  the  War  of 
1812,  nor  Jackson's  onslaught  on  the  National 
Bank,  so  profoundly  stirred  the  feelings  of  the 
people. 

Debate  on  the  bill  commenced  by  an  exhaust- 
ive speech  from  Senator  Douglas  in  its  support, 
and  was  participated  in  by  the  leading  debaters 
in  the  Senate  on  the  Democratic  side,  and  by 
Messrs.  Seward,  Hall,  Sumner,  Chase,  Bell,  and 
Houston,  in  opposition.  The  last  session  at 
which  its  consideration  was  had  extended  till 
daylight  on  March  3,  when  the  bill  passed  the 
Senate  by  a  majority  of  twenty-three. 

Four  days  later  the  bill  reached  the  Lower 
House,  and  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on 
Territories,  whose  chairman  was  Richardson,  of 
Illinois,  the  same  whom  Lincoln  had  aided  in  the 
Legislature  to  elect  State's  Attorney  over 
Browning.  Meanwhile,  the  power  of  the  people 
was  beginning  to  be  felt  in  Congress,  which  ren- 
dered the  ultimate  decision  somewhat  doubtful, 
and  the  active  opponents  of  the  measure  deter- 
mined to  make  as  gallant  a  stand  in  opposition  as 
they  could.  Accordingly,  on  March  21  they 
moved  to  refer  the  bill  to  Committee  of  the 
Whole  House-  on  the  State  of  the  Union,  which, 


248  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

if  accomplished  and  maintained,  would  probably 
dispose  of  the  measure  for  that  session ;  and  it 
was  so  accomplished  by  a  vote  of  no  to  96. 
However,  on  the  8th  of  May,  a  resolution  was 
adopted  by  a  bare  majority,  to  take  up  the  bill, 
which  was  done  and  the  bill  discussed  for  two 
days,  after  which  Richardson  moved  the  previ- 
ous question,  or  gave  notice  of  his  immediate  de- 
sign to  do  sc,  and  thus  force  a  vote  without  fur- 
ther parley.  The  Democrats  felt  assured  of  a 
sufficient  majority  to  carry  it  through,  it  having 
been  made  an  administration  measure  at  the 
White  House,  as  it  also  was  a  party  measure  at 
the  Capitol,  besides  having  the  support  of  the 
pro-slavery  Whigs.  On  the  nth  the  previous 
question  was  attempted,  and  filibustering,  as  it 
was  called,  was  resorted  to,  and  prolonged  all 
through  that  day,  the  succeeding  night,  and  the 
whole  of  the  next  day  till  midnight,  when  the 
legislative  iconoclasts,  fagged  out  with  bad 
whiskey,  yelling,  shaking  of  fists,  and  discom- 
fiture, raised  the  siege,  and  went  home,  cursing 
their  unlucky  stars. 

But  the  stake  was  too  great  to  be  yielded  up, 
and  in  a  couple  of  days  Richardson  moved,  and 
after  a  severe  struggle  carried  through,  a  motion 
to  take  a  vote  after  a  discussion  of  four  days. 
Discussion  was  then  had,  and  while  there  was  a 
majority  in  favor  of  the  bill,  under  proper  and 
authorized  practice  as  then  allowed  by  the  rules 
of  the  house,  the  minority  could  have  long  re- 
tarded and  probably  ultimately  defeated  the  bill. 

One  hundred  and  nineteen  was  the  number 
requisite  to  constitute  a  quorum  of  the  Commit- 
tee of  the  Whole.  Unless  there  was  a  quorum, 
nothing  could  be  done  except  to  rise  and  report 


FREE-SOIL  ADVOCATE  249 

no  quorum.  The  anti-bill  men  refused  to  vote  on 
the  measure  to  rise  and  report  the  bill  for  passage, 
in  consequence  of  which  but  one  hundred  and 
three  members  voted.  Under  fair  ruling,  as  the 
practice  then  was,  no  progress  could  be  made, 
but  Edson  B.  Olds,  of  Ohio,  the  chairman  of  the 
committee,  falsely  declared  the  vote  carried,  and 
leaving  the  chair,  made  his  false  report,  that  the 
committee  had  recommended  that  the  measure  do 
pass.  The  friends  and  opponents  of  the  measure 
then  commenced  the  "life-and-death"  struggle; 
the  party  lash  was  applied  without  stint  to  the 
Northern  Democrats,  who  were  inclined  to  be 
recalcitrant,  and  the  Southern  Whigs,  of  whom 
Alexander  H.  Stephens  was  the  most  conspicu- 
ous, were  bound  to  vote  according  to  the  appar- 
ent interests  of  their  section ;  and  so,  on  May  22, 
1854,  this,  the  most  important  bill  ever  before 
Congress,  was  passed  by  a  vote  of  113  to  100, 
and  the  pro-slavery  advocates  of  both  political 
parties  supposed  that  they  had  now  entrenched 
slavery  behind  adamantine  bulwarks. 

The  last  act  in  this  national  drama  bore  date 
May  20,  1854,  when  the  President  approved  the 
bill  and  impressed  upon  it  the  imprimatur  and 
sanction  of  law. 

Senator  Dixon,  of  Kentucky,  who  was  the 
pioneer  in  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compro- 
mise, served  in  the  Senate  only  two  and  one-third 
years  to  fill  out  the  uncompleted  term  of  Henry 
Clay,  who  had  always  enjoyed  the  credit  of  being 
the  father  of  that  Compromise.  He  relates 
when  Douglas  came  to  him  and  solicited  the  privi- 
lege of  bringing  in  a  substitute  for  his  previous 
bill  and  in  that  substitute  including  a  repeal  of 
the  Compromise,  Douglas  then  prophesied  that 


25°  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

he  would  be  reviled,  mobbed,  burned  in  effigy, 
etc.,  at  his  own  home,  but  that  he  was  prepared 
to  accept  all  such  ungracious  consequences,  etc. 
The  sequence  justified  his  predictions.  Doug- 
las's home  really  was  at  Washington — but  he 
hailed  from  Chicago,  and  when  casually  there 
stopped  at  the  Tremont  House,  like  any  other 
transient ;  and  having  none  but  political  business 
in  Illinois,  it  being  to  secure  the  re-election  of  his 
colleague,  General  Shields,  who  had  voted  to  re- 
peal the  Compromise,  he  deferred  his  visit  to  Illi- 
nois till  fall,  and  accordingly,  in  September,  he 
put  in  an  appearance  at  Chicago,  only  to  find 
Judd,  Wentworth,  Peck,  all  the  newspapers,  and 
the  entire  responsible  public  sentiment  arrayed 
in  deadly  and  implacable  hostility  against  him. 
To  attempt  to  stem  such  a  current  was  a  defiance 
of  Fate  itself ;  but  Douglas  was  one  of  the  most 
audacious  of  men,  and  he  announced  himself  for 
a  speech,  and  made  an  attempt  to  gain  a  hearing, 
but  he  was  hooted  down.  However,  on  a  second 
trial,  he  was  listened  to  disdainfully  but  created 
no  converts,  and  did  not  aid  his  cause.  The 
State  Fair  was  to  sit  in  October,  and  in  view  of 
the  excited  condition  of  politics,  and  of  the  fact 
that  the  fair  was  to  be  held  at  the  capital,  there 
was  a  tremendous  outpouring  of  public  men 
congregated  there;  in  point  of  fact,  Douglas, 
Shields,  and  the  members  of  Congress  who  had 
voted  for  the  repeal  of  the  Compromise  had  used 
their  efforts  to  secure  as  large  an  attendance  of 
their  supporters  as  they  could,  while  the  oppo- 
nents of  the  repeal  had  been,  with  less  despera- 
tion, perhaps,  also  active  in  gathering  at  the 
scene  of  action.  The  political  situation  was 
peculiar ;  there  was  no  national  election  on  hand, 


FREE-SOIL  ADVOCATE  251 

and  no  general  ticket  to  be  elected,  except  for 
State  Treasurer  and  Superintendent  of  Public 
Instruction,  and  yet  no  election  ever  had  taken 
place  in  Illinois  before  which  aroused  such  in- 
tense interest  and  created  such  widespread  ex- 
citement, for  a  Legislature  was  to  be  chosen  to 
select  a  successor  to  Shields,  and  Congressmen 
to  replace  those  who  had  voted  for  and  against 
the  Nebraska  Bill,  and  thus  to  sit  in  judgment 
upon  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise. 
Shields  was,  of  necessity,  a  candidate,  but  there 
was  no  organized  move  to  designate  an  opposi- 
tion candidate,  since  one  of  the  Congressmen 
who  had  opposed  the  measure  might  have  been 
selected,  but  none  was.  So  when  Douglas  an- 
nounced his  purpose  to  speak  on  October  3  in  the 
Hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives  at  the  Capi- 
tol, it  was  simply  to  render  an  account  of  his 
stewardship  in  form,  but  in  substance  to  advocate 
the  re-election  of  Shields  and  such  members  of 
the  Lower  House  as  had  aided  his  political  tergi- 
versation. There  was  no  formal  or  stated  reason 
why  Lincoln  should  reply,  except  from  a  general 
recognition  of  his  superior  ability  to  do  so;  no 
one  else  was  mentioned  in  that  connection,  every- 
body seemed  instinctively  to  indicate  Lincoln  as 
the  champion,  although  he  was  a  private  citizen 
merely,  with  no  political  strand  to  bind  him  to 
the  debate. 

Lincoln  was  not  even  present  at  the  com- 
mencement of  Douglas's  speech,  but  came  in  dur- 
ing its  delivery.  At  its  conclusion,  an  an- 
nouncement was  made  that  Lincoln  would  reply 
to  it  on  the  succeeding  day.  Accordingly,  on  the 
next  day,  he  spoke  for  three  hours,  and  made 
one  of  the  greatest  efforts  of  his  life.     It  was  a 


25 2  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

terrible  philippic  against  the  Nebraska  Bill; 
Douglas  himself  declared  that  he  had  heard 
nothing  like  it  in  the  Senate.  Lincoln  had  not 
only  thoroughly  prepared  himself  on  all  matters 
of  fact  and  of  record,  but  his  feelings  were  thor- 
oughly aroused.  He  was  not  only  indignant,  but 
alarmed;  he  then  believed  that  it  was  indispen- 
sable that  the  Missouri  Compromise  should  be  re- 
stored. In  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compro- 
mise he  fancied  that  the  moral  sluiceway  had 
been  opened  which  would  flood  the  entire  Union 
with  slavery;  and  that  unless  the  dam  was  re- 
stored by  the  might  of  public  opinion,  a  radical 
change  would  be  wrought  in  the  genius  of  our  in- 
stitutions. Freedom  would  be  dethroned,  and 
slavery  made  lawful  alike  in  Massachusetts  and 
South  Carolina,  Illinois  and  Texas,  New  York 
and  Kentucky. 

In  that  fall,  Lincoln  made  a  speech  in  reply  to 
Douglas  at  Peoria  on  October  16,  and  another, 
independently  of  Douglas,  at  Urbana  on  October 
24,  the  former  being  of  the  same  tenor  and  im- 
port, substantially,  as  the  Springfield  speech, 
while  the  Urbana  speech,  having  no  political 
critics  present,  was  more  unguarded  and  less 
diplomatic.  Lincoln  then  took  a  rest  in  a  politi- 
cal sense  (having  been  defeated  for  the  Senate  in 
January,  1855)  till  1856,  when  he  attended  the 
Bloomington  Convention  as  a  delegate,  said  Con- 
vention having  been  called  to  represent  all  who 
opposed  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise. 

His  views  on  the  subject  of  slavery  as  the 
question  was  then  presented  for  practical  consid- 
eration were  fully  expressed  in  a  letter  to  his 
friend  Joshua  F.  Speed,  in  the  succeeding  Au- 
gust, from  which  we  extract  as  follows:    "You 


FREE-SOIL  'ADVOCATE  253 

know  I  dislike  slavery,  and  you  fully  admit  the 
abstract  wrong  of  it.  .  .  .  I  do  oppose  the 
extension  of  slavery  because  my  judgment  and 
feelings  so  prompt  me.  ...  If  Kansas  fairly 
votes  herself  a  slave  State,  she  must  be  admitted, 
or  the  Union  must  be  dissolved.  But  how  if  she 
votes  herself  a  slave  State  unfairly ;  must  she  still 
be  admitted,  or  the  Union  dissolved?  That  will 
be  the  phase  of  the  question  when  it  first  becomes 
a  practical  one." 

In  1856  he  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  elec- 
toral ticket,  and  canvassed  the  State,  his  general 
arguments  being  in  antagonism  to  allowing 
slavery  to  be  established  in  territory  which  had 
theretofore  been  consecrated  to  freedom,  but  with 
no  practical  specific  method  of  preventing  it. 


CHAPTER    XIV 

ATTAINMENT   OF   THE   PRESIDENCY 

The  choosing  from  forty  to  sixty  millions  of 
people,  embracing  hundreds  of  men  of  known 
and  recognized  ability  and  fitness  for  the  place, 
one  of  their  number  to  be  the  conventional  head 
of  the  Army  and  Navy  and  Civil  and  Executive 
departments  of  government,  as  well  as  the  social 
head  of  the  nation,  is  controlled  by  destiny.  The 
will  of  the  individual  alone  is  powerless  to  bring 
him  to  the  exalted  station. 

However,  a  statesman,  sufficiently  astute,  may 
place  himself  in  the  road  of  destiny.  Had  Mr. 
Lincoln  not  entered  the  political  arena  in  1854, 
or  at  some  later  period,  he  would  have  been  un- 
known even  to  destiny;  that  goddess  does  not 
make  a  President  out  of  a  simple  country  lawyer 
or  a  local  politician.  The  candidate  for  this 
high  office  must  align  himself  with  the  national 
spirit  and  movement  of  the  time.  Even 
Zachary  Taylor  won  some  comparatively  petty 
victories  at  Palo  Alto  and  Buena  Vista.  Had 
political  merit  and  logical  deduction  decided  the 
question  in  i860,  Seward  would  have  been  Presi- 
dent in  1 861  ;  indeed,  guided  by  that  list,  there 
were  several  who  would  have  been  preferred  to 
Lincoln,  for,  tested  by  business  methods,  he  cer- 
tainly should  not,  and  would  not,  have  been 
chosen.    And  even  after  he  was  chosen,  the  heart 

254 


'ATTAINMENT  OF  THE  PRESIDENCY    255 

of  the  loyal  American  people  sank  in  dismay,  as 
his  rapid  and  vacuous  speeches  en  route  to  the  in- 
auguration, revealed  an  apparent  feebleness  in- 
compatible with  the  giant  task  that  was  then  on 
his  hands. 

I  doubt  if  any  man  on  earth  thought  seriously 
of  Lincoln  as  a  possible  President  on  the  morning 
of  May  29,  1856.  The  only  position  he  had 
held,  which  is  deemed  a  stepping-stone  to  that 
unique  place,  was  that  of  Congressman  for  one 
term,  and  in  that  place  he  achieved  no  eminence, 
but  the  reverse — indeed,  it  would  seem  as  if  his 
official  life  in  Washington  was  a  series  of  blun- 
ders. His  method  of  attempting  to  oppose  the 
Mexican  War,  and  of  trying  to  exorcise  slavery 
from  the  District  of  Columbia,  was  peculiarly 
mal-apropos. 

Since  then  he  had  done  no  substantial  thing  in 
the  way  of  politics,  except  to  make  three  speeches 
in  1854  against  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise, and  in  favor  of  its  restoration.* 

*  My  attention  has  been  drawn  to  a  statement  by 
the  usually  accurate  D.  W.  Bartlett  to  the  effect,  that 
the  nomination  for  Governor  was  offered  Mr.  Lincoln 
by  the  Anti-Nebraska  party  in  1854,  but  he  told  his 
friends,  "No ;  I  am  not  the  man.  Bissell  will  make  a 
better  Governor  than  I,  and  you  can  elect  him  on  ac- 
count of  his  Democratic  antecedents" ;  and  the  writer 
adds:  "So,  giving  to  Bissell  the  flag  it  was  universally 
desired  that  he,  Lincoln,  should  bear,"  etc. 

This  is  erroneous  throughout.  No  candidate  for 
Governor  was  elected  or  spoken  of  in  1854,  and  Lin- 
coln was  not  mentioned  in  any  responsible  way,  if, 
indeed,  in  any  way  whatever,  for  the  candidacy  in 
1856.  In  fact,  no  one  but  Bissell  was  mentioned,  with 
any  emphasis.  It  was  well  understood  that  the  candi- 
date must  be  of  Democratic  extraction,  and  Bissell  was 
nominated  by  acclamation  as  soon  as  the  temporary 
organization  was  effected.    I  notice  another  error  where 


256  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

Such  was  his  political  standing  on  the  morn- 
ing of  May  29,  1856,  as  he  and  I  ate  our  break- 
fast together  at  the  residence  of  Judge  Davis  in 
Bloomington,  but  before  night  he  had  been  men- 
tioned by  a  sage  observer  and  responsible  friend 
as  a  possible  candidate  for  President,  and  the 
statement  had  been  repeated  to  him  by  me;  and 
was  the  germ  which  first  was  sown  in  his  mind 
of  hope  for,  and  possibility  of,  attaining  that 
proud  position. 

The  genesis  of  the  Republican  party  in  Illinois, 
as  also  the  genesis  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  advancement 
to  the  supreme  headship  of  the  nation,  was  as 
follows:  Paul  Selby,  editor  of  the  Morgan 
Journal,  proposed  a  convention  of  Free  State 
editors  on  February  22,  1856,  at  Decatur,  and 
the  convention  met  in  the  parlors  of  the  old  Cas- 
sel  House,  there  being  about  one  dozen  editors 
present.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  also  in  Decatur,  and 
in  consultation  with  the  members  of  the  conven- 
tion. Resolutions  were  adopted  in  opposition  to 
the  extension  of  slavery,  in  favor  of  the  restora- 
tion of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  and  the  resto- 
ration to  Kansas  and  Nebraska  of  the  legal  guar- 
anties against  slavery  of  which  they  were  de- 
prived. The  convention  also  appointed  a  State 
Central  Committee  as  follows :  S.  M.  Church, 
W.  B.  Ogden,  G.  D.  A.  Parks,  L.  J.  Pickett,  E.  A. 
Dudley,  William  H.  Herndon,  R.  J.  Oglesby, 
Joseph  Gillespie,  Gustavus  Koerner,  and  Ira  O. 
Wilkinson ;  and  they  recommended  the  holding  of 

it  should  not  be :  viz.,  in  Nicolay  and  Hay's  "Lincoln." 
The  distinguished  authors  name  Judge  Davis  and  Sen- 
ator Trumbull  as  in  attendance  at  the  convention. 
Neither  was.  Senator  Trumbull  was  in  his  seat  in  the 
Senate,  and  Judge  Davis  was  holding  court  at  Danville. 


ATTAINMENT  OF  THE  PRESIDENCY    257 

a  State  convention  at  Bloomington  on  May  29, 
succeeding,  and  requested  the  committee  to  make 
suitable  arrangements.  This  was  done,  Koerner, 
Ogden,  and  Oglesby  not  acting  with  other  mem- 
bers of  the  committee.  And  this  Bloomington 
Convention  was  of  great  practical  and  historical 
importance  as  laying  the  foundations  of  the  Re- 
publican party,  and  as  being  the  distinct  starting- 
point  of  Abraham  Lincoln's  race  for  the  Presi- 
dency. 

To  this  convention  Lincoln  had  been  made  one 
of  the  delegates  by  Herndon,  his  partner,  in 
his  absence,  and  he  attended.  Many  great  poli- 
ticians were  there ;  among  whom  I  may  men- 
tion Palmer  (now  United  States  Senator),  Judd, 
Cook,  Peck,  Browning,  Washburne,  Farnsworth, 
Went  worth,  Hatch,  Dubois,  Lovejoy,  Herndon, 
Williams,  Dickey,  and  Swett. 

By  virtue  of  his  political  standing  alone,  Lin- 
coln would  not  have  figured  as  a  leader,  either  of 
the  convention,  or  of  the  political  movement  then 
inaugurated.  He  had  belonged  to  the  minority 
party,  and  had  always  bestridden  the  losing  horse, 
in  political  contests,  except  that  he  had  been 
once  elected  to  Congress,  and  even  then  his  rec- 
ord was  so  unpopular  that  a  Democrat  was 
elected  as  his  successor,  although  the  district  was 
a  Whig  one,  as  a  rule.  There  were  delegates  in 
this  convention  who  had  achieved  successful 
political  careers,  as  Wentworth  and  Washburne, 
who  had  had  several  terms  in  Congress,  Wash- 
burne being  a  Representative  at  the  time,  Judd, 
who  had  represented  Cook  County  in  the  State 
Senate  for  sixteen  years,  and  many  others  who 
controlled  the  local  politics  of  their  immediate 
localities,  but  by  virtue  of  his  recognized  superior 


258  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

ability  Lincoln  was  accorded  the  post  of  honor 
in  that  convention. 

Among  human  achievements  which  serve  as 
pivots  upon  which  great  events  turn,  none  is 
more  potent  than  an  utterance,  a  speech,  or  a 
letter. 

In  1844,  Henry  Clay  wrote  a  letter  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  annexation  of  Texas  which  cost  him 
his  election;  the  Mexican  War  would  not  have 
occurred  had  he  been  elected,  and  the  whole 
policy  of  government  would  have  been  different — 
California,  with  its  rich  possibilities,  would  have 
remained  a  Mexican  province.  James  G.  Blaine 
wrote  some  letters  to  one  Mulligan,  of  Boston; 
their  promulgation  cost  him  the  nomination  for 
President  in  1876  and  cost  him  his  election  in 
1884.  He  also  was  tempted  while  in  Congress  to 
make  a  satirical  speech  directed  against  Roscoe 
Conkling;  had  that  speech  remained  unspoken 
he  would  have  been  President. 

What  shrewd  political  philosophy  there  was  in 
Martin  Van  Buren's  remark  that  he  "would 
rather  walk  twenty  miles  to  see  a  man  than  to 
write  him  a  letter."  So,  too,  with  single  speeches. 
Garfield's  classic  speech,  in  which  he  nominated 
John  Sherman  for  the  Presidency  in  1880,  caused 
himself  to  be  selected  as  the  candidate. 

At  the  Bloomington  Convention  I  have  referred 
to,  Mr.  Lincoln  made  the  principal  speech ;  and  it 
was  the  chef  d'oonvre  of  the  convention.  That 
was  the  initial  point  of  Lincoln's  candidacy  for 
the  Presidency.  It  segregated  him  from  the  po- 
litical map,  and  placed  him  on  the  pinnacle  of  Illi- 
nois politics. 

In  my  "Life  on  the  Circuit  with  Lincoln"  I  have 
given  an  elaborate  account  of  Lincoln's  relation 


ATTAINMENT  OF  THE  PRESIDENCY    259 

to  this  convention,  and  which  I  may  here  supple- 
ment by  a  few  notes.  One  conspicuous  matter  is 
this,  that  while  Lincoln  did  not,  as  a  rule,  betray 
enthusiasm  under  any  stress  of  circumstances,  he 
was  in  a  state  of  enthusiasm  and  suppressed  ex- 
citement throughout  this  convention ;  yet  he  kept 
his  mental  balance,  and  was  not  swerved  a  hair's- 
breadth  from  perfect  equipoise  in  speech  or  ac- 
tion. We  were  at  Judge  Davis's  house,  a  half-mile 
from  the  focus  of  political  action,  and  thus  out 
of  the  whirl  of  excitement.  Archibald  Williams 
and  Judge  Dickey  were  our  companions,  the  for- 
mer sleeping  with  Lincoln ;  and  both  were  ex- 
tremely conservative,  and  had  great  influence 
over  Lincoln. 

The  public  mind  everywhere  was  in  a  feverish 
and  excited  condition,  and  this  unwholesome  con- 
dition was  emphasized  in  the  minds  of  the  peo- 
ple's representatives  assembled  at  this  conven- 
tion. Lawrence,  Kan.,  had  just  been  attacked, 
and  the  "Free  State"  Hotel  and  two  printing 
offices  destroyed.  Governor  Robinson  of  Kansas 
had  been  arrested  without  legal  warrant  in  Mis- 
souri, his  house  sacked  and  fired,  and  himself 
chained  out  on  the  prairie,  in  default  of  a  jail ; 
Mrs.  Robinson,  and  James  S.  Emery,  a  leading 
Free  State  man,  were  at  the  Bloomington  Con- 
vention. Governor  Reeder,  who  had  just  escaped 
from  Kansas  in  disguise,  was  also  there ;  and  all 
three,  necessarily  and  by  design,  aroused  and  ex- 
cited the  delegates.  Charles  Sumner  had  been 
beaten  by  "Bully"  Brooks  in  the  United  States 
Senate,  just  one  week  previously,  and  was 
reported  to  be  dying;  and  word  had  just  come 
that  Senator  Trumbull  had  offered  a  resolu- 
tion in  the  Senate,  having  for  its  aim  the  prevent 


260  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

tion  of  Civil  War  and  the  restoration  of  peace  in 
Kansas,  which  had  been  received  with  derision  by 
Douglas  and  those  of  his  political  complexion. 
Lovejoy  and  the  Abolitionists  were  urging  ex- 
treme measures  in  resolutions  which  the  Kan- 
sas colony  fomented,  and  the  street  talk  was  all 
in  the  direction  of  radicalism.  While  O.  H. 
Browning  was  making  an  excellent  speech  in  the 
Convention,  the  crowd  kept  interrupting  by  call- 
ing for  Lovejoy,  and  the  former  was  obliged  to 
yield  the  floor ;  the  general  sentiment  was  radical. 
In  the  seclusion  and  privacy  of  our  temporary 
home,  Lincoln,  Williams,  and  Dickey  discussed 
the  situation  earnestly,  all  uniting  in  favor  of 
conservative  counsels,  and  they  did  more  than 
all  others  combined  in  shaping  the  moderate  and 
conservative  course  which  was  finally  adopted  by 
the  convention.  The  general  sentiment,  undoubt- 
edly, was  in  favor  of  most  radical  expressions; 
but,  owing  mainly  to  Lincoln's  and  Williams's 
monitions,  a  conservative  course  was  adopted; 
and  the  following  resolutions,  among  others, 
were  adopted,  chiefly  upon  Lincoln's  suggestion : 

Resolved,  That  we  hold,  in  accordance  with  the  opin- 
ions and  practices  of  all  the  great  statesmen  of  all  par- 
ties for  the  first  sixty  years  of  the  administration  of  the 
government,  that,  under  the  Constitution,  Congress  pos- 
sesses full  power  to  prohibit  slavery  in  the  territories; 
and  that,  while  we  will  maintain  all  constitutional  rights 
of  the  South,  we  also  hold  that  justice,  humanity,  the 
principles  of  freedom  as  expressed  in  our  Declaration  of 
Independence  and  our  National  Constitution,  and  the 
purity  and  perpetuity  of  our  government  require  that 
that  power  should  be  exerted  to  prevent  the  extension 
of  slavery  into  territory  heretofore  free. 

Lincoln  put  the  situation  to  Judd  and  Peck  in 
this  way :    "Your  party  is  so  mad  at  Douglas  for 


'ATTAINMENT  OF  THE  PRESIDENCY    261 

wrecking  his  party  that  it  will  gulp  down  any- 
thing; but  our  party  [Whig]  is  fresh  from  Ken- 
tucky and  must  not  be  forced  to  radical  meas- 
ures; the  Abolitionists  will  go  with  us  anyway, 
and  your  wing  of  the  Democratic  party  the  same, 
but  the  Whigs  hold  the  balance  of  power  and 
will  be  hard  to  manage,  anyway.  Why,"  said  he, 
"I  had  a  hard  time  to  hold  Dubois  when  he  found 
Love  joy  and  Codding  here ;  he  insisted  on  going 
home  at  once." 

Governor  Reeder  was  quite  a  lion  to  the  multi- 
tude, but  no  lion  to  Lincoln.  The  latter,  Wil- 
liams, and  myself  were  going  to  our  rooms  in  the 
evening,  from  the  Pike  House,  and  we  passed  a 
crowd  listening  to  Reeder,  in  the  Court  House 
Square.  We  listened  but  for  a  moment.  "He 
can't  overcome  me,"  said  Williams.  "He  would 
have  to  do  a  great  deal  to  overcome  my  prejudice 
against  him,"  said  Lincoln,  and  we  all  turned 
away ;  in  fact,  Lincoln  did  not  meet  Reeder  at  all ; 
he  was  deeply  prejudiced  against  him  for  some 
reason. 

The  morning  after  the  adjournment  of  the  con- 
vention, as  we  came  down  town  to  take  the 
Springfield  train,  we  met  several  delegates,  en 
route  for  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  and  each 
one  had  to  wring  Lincoln's  hand  and  say  some- 
thing complimentary  of  his  speech  of  the  day  be- 
fore. "Lincoln,  I  never  swear,"  said  William 
Hopkins,  of  Grundy,  "but  that  was  the  damndest 
best  speech  I  ever  heard." 

Of  that  speech,  John  L.  Scripps,  Herndon,  and 
myself  each  tried  to  take  notes.  I  succeeded 
measurably;  the  others  failed  ignominiously. 
My  notes  are  very  imperfect,  but  I  reproduce,  as 
best  I  can,  from  those  notes,  the  principal  parts 


262  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

of  that  celebrated  speech.    ( See  "  The  Lost  Speech 
of  Lincoln,"  Appendix  III.,  in  present  volume.) 

On  the  17th  of  June,  after  the  Bloomington 
Convention,  the  first  Republican  National  con- 
vention met  in  Philadelphia,  and  Lincoln  polled 
one  hundred  and  ten  votes  for  Vice  President; 
and  from  that  time  onward  we  who  were  close 
to  him,  Smith,  Dubois,  Herndon,  Bill  Jayne,  J. 
O.  Cunningham,  and  James  Somers,  used  to 
electioneer  each  other  in  his  behalf,  while  poli- 
ticians of  steadier  poise  looked  on  askance,  if  not, 
indeed,  amused.  The  first  newspaper  that  men- 
tioned him  as  a  Presidential  possibility  was  the 
Central  Illinois  Gazette,  published  in  Champaign, 
111.,  by  J.  W.  Scroggs.  On  May  4,  1859,  it 
printed  the  following  articles,  the  first  in  the  local 
column,  the  second  in  the  editorial.  Will  O. 
Stoddard,  Esq.,  afterward  Lincoln's  secretary  to 
sign  land  patents,  and  later  his  biographer,  wrote 
both  articles,  he  being  editor  of  the  paper  at  the 
time. 

PERSONAL. 

Our  Next  President. — We  had  the  pleasure  of  intro- 
ducing to  the  hospitalities  of  our  Sanctum,  a  few  days 
ago,  the  Hon.  Abraham  Lincoln.  Few  men  can  make 
an  hour  pass  away  more  agreeably.  We  do  not  pre- 
tend to  know  whether  Mr.  Lincoln  will  ever  conde- 
scend to  occupy  the  White  House  or  not,  but  if  he 
should,  it  is  a  comfort  to  know  that  he  has  estab- 
lished for  himself  a  character  and  reputation  of  sufficient 
strength  and  purity  to  withstand  the  disreputable  and 
corrupting  influences  of  even  that  locality.  No  man  in 
the  West  at  the  present  time  occupies  a  more  enviable 
position  before  the  people  or  stands  a  better  chance 
for  obtaining  a  high  position  among  those  to  whose 
guidance  our  ship  of  state  is  to  be  entrusted. 


'ATTAINMENT  OF  THE  PRESIDENCY    263 
WHO  SHALL  BE  PRESIDENT? 

We  have  no  sympathy  with  those  politicians  of  any 
party  who  are  giving  themselves  up  to  a  corrupt  and 
selfish  race  for  the  presidential  chair,  and  are  rather 
inclined  to  believe  that  the  result  will  be  a  disappoint- 
ment to  the  whole  race  of  demagogues.  The  vastness 
of  the  interests  depending  on  the  political  campaign  now 
commencing,  gives  even  a  more  than  usual  degree  of 
interest  to  the  question:  "Who  shall  be  the  candidate?" 
Believing  that  a  proper  discussion  of  this  question 
through  the  columns  of  the  local  papers  is  the  true  way 
to  arrive  at  a  wise  conclusion,  we  propose  to  give  our 
views,  so  far  as  formed,  and  we  may  add  that  we  are 
well  assured  that  the  same  views  are  entertained  by 
the  mass  of  the  Republican  party  of  Central  Illinois. 

In  the  first  place,  we  do  not  consider  it  possible  for 
the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States  to  become 
the  personal  property  of  any  particular  politician,  how 
great  a  man  soever  he  may  be  esteemed  by  himself  and 
his  partisans.  We,  therefore,  shall  discuss  the  "can- 
didate question"  unbiassed  by  personal  prejudices  or  an 
undue  appreciation  of  the  claims  of  any  political  leader. 
We  may  add,  with  honest  pride,  an  expression  of  our 
faith  in  the  leading  statesmen  of  our  party,  that  neither 
Chase  nor  Seward  nor  Banks  nor  any  other  whose 
name  has  been  brought  prominently  before  the  people, 
will  press  individual  aspirations  at  the  expense  of  the 
great  principles  whose  vindication  is  inseparably  linked 
with  our  success.  While  no  circumstances  should  be 
allowed  to  compel  even  a  partial  abandonment  of 
principle,  and  defeat  in  the  cause  of  right  is  infinitely 
better  than  a  corrupt  compromise  with  wrong,  never- 
theless, the  truest  wisdom  for  the  Republican  party  in 
this  campaign  will  be  found  in  such  a  conservative  and 
moderate  course  as  shall  secure  the  respect  and  con- 
sideration even  of  our  enemies,  and  shall  not  forget 
National  compacts  within  which  we  are  acting  and  by 
which  we  are  bound :  and  the  proper  recognition  of  this 
luture  of  the  contest  should  be  allowed  its  due  influ- 
ence in  the  selection  of  our  standard  bearer. 

Although  local  prejudices  ought  always  to  be  held 
subordinate  to  the  issues  of  the  contest,  it  will  not  be 
wise  to  overlook  their  importance  in  counting  the  prob- 
abilities of  what  will  surely  be  3  doubtful  and  bitterly 


264  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

contested  battlefield.  It  is  this  consideration  which 
has  brought  into  so  great  prominence  the  leading  Re- 
publican statesmen  of  Pennsylvania  and  Illinois.  If 
these  two  states  can  be  added  to  the  number  of  those  in 
which  the  party  seems  to  possess  an  unassailable  supe- 
riority, the  day  is  ours.  The  same  reasons  to  a  less 
extent,  in  exact  proportion  to  its  force  in  the  electoral 
college,  affect   New  Jersey. 

From  Pennsylvania  and  Illinois,  therefore,  the  can- 
didates for  President  and  Vice  President  might,  with 
great  propriety,  be  chosen.  It  is  true  that  our  present 
Chief  Magistrate  is  from  Pennsylvania,  and  other  States 
justly  might  urge  that  a  proper  apportionment  of  the 
National  honors  would  not  give  her  the  presidency  twice 
in  succession;  but,  while  there  are  several  good  prece- 
dents for  such  a  course  of  action,  there  is  one  point 
which  outweighs  in  importance  all  others:  to  wit,  We 
must  carry  Pennsylvania  in  i860,  and  if  we  can  best 
do  it  with  one  of  our  own  citizens  as  standard-bearer, 
that  fact  cannot  be  disregarded  with  impunity.  The 
delegation  from  the  Keystone  State  will  doubtless  pre- 
sent this  idea  with  great  urgency  in  the  National  con- 
vention. 

Aside  from  this,  there  are  other  points  in  favor  of  the 
two  States  mentioned,  which  cannot  fail  to  carry  great 
weight  in  the  minds  of  all  candid  and  reasonable  men. 
They  have  both  been  distinguished  for  moderation  and 
patriotism  in  the  character  of  their  statesmen,  with  as 
few  exceptions  as  any  other  States.  They  are  among 
that  great  central  belt  of  States  which  constitute  the 
stronghold  of  conservatism  and  Nationality.  They  are 
not  looked  upon  as  "sectional"  in  their  character,  even 
by  the  South.  They,  moreover,  are,  to  a  high  degree, 
representative  States.  Where  will  our  manufacturing, 
mining,  and  trading  interests  find  a  better  representa- 
tive than  Pennsylvania?  Or  what  State  is  more  identi- 
fied in  all  its  fortunes  with  the  great  agricultural  in- 
terests than  is  Illinois? 

The  States  themselves,  then,  being  open  to  no  valid 
objection,  we  come  to  the  question  of  individual  candi- 
dates. Pennsylvania  has  not  yet  determined  her  choice 
from  among  her  own  great  men,  but  as  for  Illinois  it 
is  the  firm  and  fixed  belief  of  our  citizens  that  for 
one  or  the  other  of  the  offices  in  question,  no  man  will 
be  so  sure  to  consolidate  the  party  vote  of  this  State, 


ATTAINMENT  OF  THE  PRESIDENCY    265 

or  will  carry  the  great  Mississippi  Valley  with  a  more 
irresistible  rush  of  popular  enthusiasm,  than  our  dis- 
tinguished fellow  citizen, 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

We,  in  Illinois,  know  him  well,  in  the  best  sense  of 
the  word,  a  true  democrat,  a  man  of  the  people,  whose 
strongest  friends  and  supporters  are  the  hard-handed 
and  strong-limbed  laboring  men,  who  hail  him  as  a 
brother  and  who  look  upon  him  as  one  of  their  real 
representative  men.  A  true  friend  of  freedom,  having 
already  done  important  service  for  the  cause,  and 
proved  his  abundant  ability  for  still  greater  service; 
yet  a  staunch  conservative,  whose  enlarged  and  liberal 
mind  descends  to  no  narrow  view,  but  sees  both  sides 
of  every  great  question,  and  of  whom  we  need  not  fear 
that  fanaticism  on  the  one  side,  or  servility  on  the  other, 
will  lead  him  to  the  betrayal  of  any  trust.  We  appeal 
to  our  brethren  of  the  Republican  press  for  the  cor- 
rectness of  our  assertions. 

The  next  newspaper  announcement  was  in  the 
Aurora  Beacon,  published  by  John  W.  Ray,  on 
October  5,  1859,  but  no  one  knew  how  deep  and 
earnest  the  feeling  for  him  was  till  the  sitting  of 
the  convention  in  i860. 

The  truth  of  history  requires  me  to  concede  or 
aver  that  the  proximate  and  superficial  cause  of 
Mr.  Lincoln's  nomination  was  adroit  and  astute 
political  skill  and  management  at  the  convention, 
but  the  ultimate  and  remote  causes  were  discern- 
ible in  Lincoln's  own  political  genius,  for  the  un- 
embellished  fact  is,  that  he  was  inspired  either  on 
May  29  or  June  20,  1856,  or  thereabouts,  to  com- 
pete for  this  high  exaltation,  and  he  wrought  this 
enduring  structure  of  his  fame  mainly  alone. 
Seward  had  hundreds  of  well-trained,  astute  po- 
litical henchmen  and  lieutenants,  but  Lincoln's 
few  adherents  were  those  whose  efforts  were,  in 


266  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

the  main,  muscular  (running  of  errands  and  the 
like),  of  whom  I  am  proud  to  have  been  one. 

Alone,  he  trod  the  paths  of  high  intent. 

Herndon  was  almost  his  only  mentor;  Dubois 
and  Bill  Jayne  constituted  the  committee  of  ar- 
rangements in  Springfield;  Davis  and  Swett  in 
Bloomington;  Lawson  and  Harrison  in  Vermil- 
ion, etc.  Most  of  them  worked  con  amove, 
chiefly  from  love  of  the  man,  his  lofty  moral  tone, 
his  pure  political  morality.  In  an  essay  entitled, 
"The  Presidential  Nomination,"  appearing  in  my 
"Life  on  the  Circuit  with  Lincoln,"  the  details  of 
how  the  nomination  was  directly  achieved  will  be 
found  by  those  who  may  be  curious  to  know 
them. 

In  the  convention  of  May  29,  1856,  Lincoln 
was,  by  common  consent,  placed  at  the  head  of 
the  electoral  ticket,  and  he  entered  actively  into 
the  campaign,  making  speeches  in  all  parts  of  the 
State,  except  in  Egypt  (the  southern  part  of  Illi- 
nois). 

In  1858,  a  Legislature  was  to  be  chosen  in  Illi- 
nois, upon  which  devolved  the  responsibility  of 
choosing  a  Senator  to  succeed  to  Douglas's  then 
unexpired  term.  All  eyes  were  turned  to  Lin- 
coln as  the  Republican  candidate  (and  in  point  of 
fact,  the  State  convention  indicated  him  by  a  most 
radical  resolution  as  "the  first  and  only  choice 
for  Senator"),  and  he  could  not  do  otherwise 
than  accept  the  nomination.  While,  however,  his 
political  friends  were  training  him  for  the  Sen- 
ate, he  was  coaching  himself  for  the  Presidency, 
two  years  thereafter.  Disdaining  the  lesser  dis- 
tinction, and  aiming  at  the  greater  one,  he  care- 
fully prepared  and  read  before  the  convention  the 


'ATTAINMENT  OF  THE  PRESIDENCY    267 

celebrated  "House  divided  against  itself"  speech 
of  June  17,  1858,  which  lost  him  the  Senatorship 
and  gained  him  the  Presidency.  Herndon,  who 
had  approved  of  the  speech  before  it  was  deliv- 
ered, said  in  his  bizarre  and  fantastic  style :  "Of 
that  speech  Lincoln  instantly  died."  Swett  said : 
"There  were  ten  lines  in  that  speech  which  killed 
Lincoln."  The  keynote  of  this  speech  was  not 
suddenly  achieved  by  Lincoln,  for  in  a  fugitive 
speech  made  during  the  canvass  of  1856  he  had 
enunciated  it ;  and  he  no  doubt  would  have  made 
it  prominent  in  the  canvass  had  not  Judge  Dickey, 
who  heard  it,  implored  him  to  suppress  it.  Lin- 
coln claimed  no  credit  for  originating  the  idea  of 
his  speech.  On  the  contrary,  he  said  at  Cincin- 
nati in  1859:  "But  neither  I,  nor  Seward,  nor 
Hickman  is  entitled  to  the  enviable  or  unenviable 
distinction  of  having  first  expressed  the  idea.  The 
same  idea  was  expressed  by  the  Richmond  En- 
quirer in  1856 — quite  two  years  before  it  was  ex- 
pressed by  the  first  of  us." 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  constant  patron  of  the 
Richmond  Enquirer,  and  obtained  his  idea  of  the 
drift  of  popular  sentiment  in  the  South  largely, 
if  not,  indeed,  chiefly,  from  that  organ.  The 
following  editorial  article  forcibly  attracted  his 
attention,  the  date  being  May  6,  1856: 

Social  forms  so  widely  differing  as  those  of  domestic 
slavery  and  (attempted)  universal  liberty  cannot  long 
co-exist  in  the  great  Republic  of  Christendom.  They 
cannot  be  equally  adapted  to  the  wants  and  interests  of 
society.  The  one  form  or  the  other  must  be  very 
wrong,  very  ill-suited  to  promote  the  quiet,  the  peace, 
the  happiness,  the  morality,  the  religion  and  general 
well-being  of  communities.  Disunion  will  not  allay  ex- 
citement and  investigation,  much  less  beget  lasting  peace. 
The  war  between  the  two  systems  rages  everywhere  and 


268  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

will  continue  to  rage  till  the  one  conquers,  and  the  other 
is  exterminated.  If,  with  disunion,  we  could  have  the 
"all  and  end  of  all"  then  the  inducement  would  be  strong 
to  attempt  it.  But  such  a  measure  would  but  inspire 
our  European  and  American  adversaries  with  additional 
zeal.* 

Lincoln  read  his  speech  to  a  little  coterie  of  his 
friends,  in  advance  of  its  delivery,  and  Herndon 
predicted  :  "Lincoln,  deliver  that  speech,  as  read, 
and  it  will  make  you  President."  It  was  the 
leaven  hid  in  public  opinion,  and  ultimately  it 
leavened  the  whole  lump ;  it  was  bread  cast  upon 
the  waters  to  be  gathered  after  many  days.  Lin- 
coln himself  said  :  "This  thing  has  been  retarded 
long  enough.  The  time  has  come  when  these 
sentiments  should  be  uttered,  and  if  it  is  decreed 
that  I  should  go  down  because  of  this  speech, 
then  let  me  go  down,  linked  to  the  truth — let  me 
die  in  the  advocacy  of  what  is  just  and  right." 
Yet  none  but  Herndon  approved  of  it  in  ad- 
vance ;  and  he,  chiefly,  from  his  belief  in  the  un- 
erring wisdom  of  Lincoln.  Dubois  bluntly  told 
Lincoln,  in  presence  of  his  inner  circle  of  friends, 
that  "it  was  a  damned  fool  speech;"  but  had 

*  Roger  A.  Pryor  was  then  editor  of  the  Enquirer, 
and  probably  wrote  the  article.  Lincoln  told  me  that 
at  the  Charleston  Convention,  which  met  at  about  this 
time,  Pryor  obtained  his  first  concrete  acquaintance  with 
the  Northern  Democracy,  and  that  he  was  perfectly 
shocked  and  dismayed  at  the  exhibition.  Lincoln  said 
that  Pryor  was  socially  a  polished  gentleman,  and  that 
he  looked  on  aghast  at  the  low,  profane,  and  whiskey- 
drinking  crowds  that  poured  out  of  the  Northern  cities 
as  lobby  delegates.  I  suppose  he  must  have  given 
vent  to  his  feeling  of  disgust  in  his  columns,  and  that' 
Lincoln  got  his  ideas  there.  This  would  be  more  prob- 
able from  the  fact  that  Pryor  and  his  adherents  de- 
tested the  candidate  of  these  Northern  "bummers." 


'ATTAINMENT  OF  THE  PRESIDENCY    269 

Lincoln  not  made  it,  he  never  would  have  been 
President;  it  was  "a  word  spoken  in  season," 
and  it  constituted  the  turning-point  in  his  ca- 
reer. With  an  astuteness  and  a  political  divina- 
tion superior  to  all  of  his  fellows,  he  foresaw  the 
political  future  and  firmly  declared:  "If  I  had 
to  draw  a  pen  across  my  record,  and  erase  my 
whole  life  from  remembrance,  and  I  had  one 
choice  allowed  me  what  I  might  save  from  the 
wreck,  I  should  choose  that  speech,  and  leave  it 
to  the  world  just  as  it  is." 

On  the  day  of  Douglas's  election  to  the  Senate, 
Lincoln  said  to  me  :  "I  can't  help  it,  and  I  expect 
everybody  to  leave  us." 

The  political  situation  in  Illinois  was  not  satis- 
factory to  any  class  except  the  discredited  poli- 
ticians who  had  nothing  to  lose  and  everything  to 
gain  by  abnormal  conditions  of  politics.  Judge 
Douglas  had  found  that  the  disaffection  in  the 
ranks  of  the  Democracy  by  reason  of  the  enact- 
ment of  the  Nebraska  Bill  was  more  than  a  re- 
volt— that  it  was,  in  fact,  a  radical  revolution; 
and  when  the  administration  determined  to  force 
Kansas  into  the  Union  under  the  Lecompton 
Constitution,  he  made  haste  to  retrieve  his  past 
error,  and  ally  himself  to  the  Northern  political 
protestants  against  the  growing  aggressions  of 
the  awful  slave  power.  This  was  extremely  dan- 
gerous ground  for  even  so  wily  and  versatile  a 
politician  to  assume,  for  he  could  hardly  hope  to 
retain  his  standing  with  the  Southern  school  of 
politicians  if  he  wavered  at  all  on  the  slavery 
question.  The  condition,  however,  was  desper- 
ate ;  he  had  lost  control  of  Illinois,  and  must  de- 
vise some  means  to  regain  it,  if  he  would  remain 
in  politics,  for  a  Legislature  was  to  be  chosen  in 


270  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

1858,  which  was  to  choose  a  Senator  in  his  place, 
and  if  he  could  not  succeed  himself  his  prestige 
would  be  gone  forever.  He  must,  therefore,  re- 
cover some,  at  least,  of  the  lost  ground  at  home, 
even  at  the  hazard  of  losing  in  the  great  arena  of 
the  whole  nation.  He,  therefore,  placed  himself 
in  the  field  as  an  avowed  candidate  for  his  own 
succession,  and  his  shibboleth  was  "Anti-Le- 
compton."  This  was  an  adroit  and  wise  course, 
and  barely  succeeded,  and  that  in  an  entirely  un- 
expected and  novel  way ;  for  he  gained  as  ad- 
vocates of  his  cause,  among  others,  Horace 
Greeley  and  John  J.  Crittenden,  both  of  whom 
urged  his  re-election  to  the  Senate.  The  in- 
fluence of  these  distinguished  men  can  only  be 
known  by  an  understanding  of  our  local  politics, 
which  may  be  thus  stated  in  general  terms :  The 
northern  part  of  the  State  was  peopled  by  immi- 
grants from  the  Northern  States,  which  gave  a 
decided  "anti-slavery"  cast  to  the  politics  there; 
on  the  contrary,  the  southern  part  of  the  State 
was  peopled  by  immigrants  from  Virginia,  Ken- 
tucky, and  Tennessee,  whose  prejudices  and  pre- 
dilections were  favorable  to  the  "peculiar  insti- 
tution" and  were  likewise  Democratic  in  their 
party  affiliations.  But  in  the  centre  of  the  State 
there  were  several  legislative  districts  the  sub- 
stratum of  whose  population  was  of  the  "Henry 
Clay"  Whig  school  of  politics,  who  hated  De- 
mocracy, with  all  that  the  term  implied,  with  re- 
ligious zeal ;  but  who  despised  Abolitionism  in  all 
of  its  manifestations  and  modifications  with  no 
less  fervor.  The  contest  promised  to  be  close  in 
the  Legislature  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  since  the 
apportionment  of  the  State  into  legislative  dis- 
tricts in  1850  the  southern  part  of  the  State  had 


ATTAINMENT  OF  THE  PRESIDENCY    27* 

not  improved  in  an  equal  ratio  and  consequence 
with  the  northern  portion,  and  hence  a  large  nu- 
merical majority  might  be  obtained  for  the  Re- 
publicans, and  yet  the  Legislature  be  Democratic. 
The  political  complexion  of  most  of  the  districts 
was  in  no  wise  doubtful,  but  the  old  Whig  dis- 
tricts were  extremely  so.  Ordinarily,  they  would 
have  sustained  the  candidates  of  the  Republican 
party,  who  would  have  supported  Mr.  Lincoln, 
but  in  doing  so  they  would  be  acting  in  harmony 
with  Lovejoy,  Codding,  Farnsworth,  and  the 
"anti-slavery"  cohorts  whom  their  souls  abhorred. 
And  Greeley,  who  had  been  their  political  mentor 
in  the  era  of  the  Whig  party,  urged  them,  with 
the  frantic  and  uncompromising  zeal  so  charac- 
teristic of  him,  to  support  Douglas.  Joined  to 
this  powerful  influence,  the  Douglas  adherents 
left  no  means  unexhausted  to  convince  them  that 
the  tendencies  of  the  Republican  party  were  to 
the  unconditional  abolition  of  slavery  and  the  in- 
undation of  the  whole  nation  with  free  negroes ; 
while,  to  cap  all,  a  letter  from  John  J.  Crittenden 
to  T.  Lyle  Dickey  strongly  favoring  Douglas  was 
published  clandestinely  and  without  warning 
in  these  doubtful  districts  just  on  the  eve  of 
election,  and  before  its  views  could  be  counter- 
acted. These  several  elements  elected  Douglas, 
and  in  my  judgment  Governor  Crittenden's  letter 
was  the  dominating  influence  in  the  election  and 
controlled  the  result.  I  here  annex  it — its 
electioneering  tone  is  plain : 

Frankfort,  August  I,  1858. 
My  Dear  Sir: 

I  read,  some  days  ago,  your  letter  of  the  19th  of  last 
month,  in  which  you  state  the  substance  of  a  con- 
versation between  us  in  relation  to  Judge  Douglas,  said 


«72  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

to  have  taken  place  in  April  last  at  the  City  of  Washing- 
ton. You  ask  if  your  statement  is  correct  and  you  ask 
my  permission  to  speak  of  it  privately  and  publicly  as 
occasion  may  prompt  you.  I  remember  the  conversa- 
tion to  which  you  allude  and  the  substance  of  it :  it 
occurred  at  Washington  during  the  last  session  of 
Congress,  and  most  probably  in  April.  Your  state- 
ment of  that  conversation  corresponds  substantially 
with  my  recollection  of  it.  As  you  state  in  your  letter 
I  did,  in  that  conversation,  speak  of  Senator  Douglas 
in  high  and  warm  terms.  I  said  that  the  people  of 
Illinois  little  knew  how  much  they  really  owed  him. 
That  he  had  the  courage  and  patriotism  to  take  a  high, 
elevated,  just  and  independent  position  on  the  Lecomp- 
ton  question  at  the  sacrifice  of  interesting  social  rela- 
tions, as  well  as  old  party  ties,  and  in  defiance  of  the 
power  and  patronage  of  an  angry  administration  sup- 
ported by  a  dominant  party  disbursing  a  revenue  of 
some  $86,000,000  a  year;  that  for  this  noble  conduct, 
he  had  been  almost  overwhelmed  with  denunciation. 
That  the  attacks  made  upon  him  in  the  debate  in  the 
Senate  were  frequent,  personal  and  fierce ;  that 
throughout  the  entire  session,  he  must  have  felt  the 
consciousness  that  he  was  in  daily  danger  of  being  so 
assailed  in  debate  as  to  force  him  into  altercations  and 
quarrels  that  might,  in  their  consequence,  involve  the 
loss  of  honor  or  of  life.  Notwithstanding  all  this, 
he  had  kept  his  course  firmly  and  steadily  throughout 
the  whole  struggle,  and  had  borne  himself  gallantly. 
I  thought  there  was  a  heroism  in  his  course  calling 
not  only  for  approbation  but  for  applause. 

In  the  above  statement,  I  have  rather  confined  myself 
to  those  particulars  of  our  conversation  suggested  by 
your  letter,  than  attempted  to  detail  the  whole  of  it.  The 
above,  however,  contains  the  substance  of  what  passed, 
and  whatever  else  was  said  was  in  accordance  with 
it.  This  conversation  with  you,  Sir,  formed  but  a  part 
of  many  others  of  a  like  character  which  I  held  on  the 
same  subject.  I  often  expressed  my  high  opinion  of 
that  conduct  of  Judge  Douglas  on  the  "Lecompton" 
question.  I  expressed  it  frequently,  fully  and  openly, 
and  was  careless  who  might  hear  or  who  might  repeat 
it.  Under  the  circumstances  I  do  not  feel  that  it  would 
become  me  to  object,  or  that,  indeed,  I  have  any  right 
to  object  to  your  repeating  our  conversation   when  I 


'ATTAINMENT  OF  THE  PRESIDENCY    273 

have,  myself,  so  freely  and  so  publicly  declared  the 
whole  substance  of  it.  I  have  thus  answered  your  let- 
ter as  I  felt  myself  bound  to  do.  I  must  add,  how- 
ever, that  I  do  not  wish  to  be  an  officious  intermeddler 
in  your  election,  or  even  to  appear  to  be  so.  I,  there- 
fore, hope  and  request  that  when  you  have  occasion  to 
speak  on  the  subject  of  this  letter,  you  will  do  me 
the  justice  to  explain  and  to  acquit  me  of  any  such 
voluntary  intermeddling  or  of  the  presumption  of  seek- 
ing to  obtrude  myself  or  my  sentiments  upon  the  atten- 
tion of  the  people  of  Illinois.  I  am,  Sir, 
With  great  respect, 

J.  J.  Crittenden. 
T.  Lyle  Dickey,  Esq. 

Mr.  Lincoln  wrote  to  Governor  Crittenden  on 
the  day  after  the  election :  "The  emotions  of  de- 
feat in  which  I  felt  more  than  a  merely  selfish 
interest  and  to  which  defeat  the  use  of  your  name 
contributed  largely  are  fresh  upon  me,"  etc. 

I  may  say  further,  that  after  the  defection  of 
Judge  Douglas  from  the  Democratic  party,  on 
account  of  Lecomptonism,  the  administration  of 
James  Buchanan  acted  with  extreme  unwisdom 
in  making  an  unrelenting  war  upon  Douglas  and 
his  friends  in  Illinois.  A  strict  list  was  made, 
and  all  office-holders  who  adhered  to  the  recalci- 
trant Senator  were  summarily  decapitated,  and 
their  places  filled  as  a  rule  by  political  adventur- 
ers without  character  or  standing  in  the  party. 
The  war  was  even  so  relentless  as  to  embrace  the 
establishment  of  an  ultra-Democratic  orp-an  in 
Chicago  to  assail  Douglas,  and  even  the  acquisi- 
tion of  the  control  of  the  Senator's  own  organ, 
likewise  to  break  him  down.  These  schemes, 
like  spitting  against  the  wind,  resulted  in  their 
authors'  discomfiture ;  the  adherents  to  the 
"Buchanan"  Democracy  in  Illinois  were  not  so 
numerous  as  the  accessions  which  Douglas  made 


274  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

from  the  temporary  opposition,  chiefly  by  reason 
of  this  unjust  warfare  upon  him  for  a  stand  made 
by  him  on  principle.  So  Buchanan's  efforts,  like 
those  of  Greeley,  for  a  different  reason,  aided  in 
the  reelection  of  Douglas. 

But  the  partisans  of  Douglas  were  not  only 
sedulous  to  return  him  to  the  Senate,  but  likewise 
to  make  him  the  general  candidate  of  the  anti- 
extension  of  slavery  party  for  the  Presidency. 
This  callow  design  was  broached  tentatively  in 
Illinois  and  elsewhere,  and  gained  auditors  in  un- 
expected quarters ;  even  my  deeply  lamented 
friend,  Swett,  listened  to  the  voice  of  the  siren, 
and  he  and  I  had  a  heated  discussion  about  it. 
Governor  Bissell  and  Jesse  O.  Norton,  in  my 
presence,  in  January,  1859,  at  the  Executive  Man- 
sion, in  Springfield,  mutually  prophesied  that 
Douglas  would  be  elected  President  in  the  suc- 
ceeding year,  partly  by  Republican  votes.  This 
political  ghost  of  the  future  disturbed  Mr.  Lin- 
coln very  much  in  1859.  He  was  then  predes- 
tined as  the  candidate  of  his  own  State,  and  he 
viewed  with  alarm  the  evidence  of  the  setting  of 
the  political  tide  toward  Douglas.  Lincoln  talked 
with  me  about  it,  and  I  heard  him  talk 
to  others  about  it,  more  than  once,  always  with 
self-depreciation,  but  likewise  always  earnestly. 
But  the  people  remained  true  to  their  party  alle- 
giance, and,  while  Douglas  by  an  accident  re- 
tained his  technical  place  in  politics,  his  party  re- 
mained out  of  power  for  nearly  forty  years  there- 
after. 

I  here  annex  a  personal  letter  from  Mr.  Lin- 
coln to  Governor  Chase  on  the  above  subject, 
which  shows  his  opinion  of  the  close  straits  our 
party  was  in  in  the  year  1858  : 


'ATTAINMENT  OF  THE  PRESIDENCY    275 

Springfield,  111.,  April  30,  1859. 
The  Hon.  S.  P.  Chase : 

Dear  Sir :  Reaching  home  yesterday  I  found  your 
kind  note  of  the  14th,  informing  me  that  you  have 
given  Mr.  Whitney  the  appointment  desired ;  and 
also  mentioning  the  present  encouraging  aspects  of 
the  Republican  cause  and  our  Illinois  canvass  of  last 
year.  I  thank  you  for  the  appointment.  Allow  me 
also  to  thank  you  as  being  one  of  the  very  few  dis- 
tinguished men  whose  sympathy  we  in  Illinois  did 
receive  last  year,  of  all  those  whose  sympathy  we 
thought  we  had  reason  to  expect. 

Of  course  I  would  have  preferred  success ;  but,  fail- 
ing in  that,  I  have  no  regrets  for  having  rejected 
all  advice  to  the  contrary  and  resolutely  made  the 
struggle.  Had  we  thrown  ourselves  into  the  arms 
of  Douglas,  as  re-electing  him  by  our  votes  would 
have  done,  the  Republican  cause  would  have  been 
annihilated  in  Illinois,  and,  as  I  think,  demoralized 
and  prostrated  everywhere  for  years,  if  not  forever. 
As  it  is,  in  the  language  of  Benton,  "  we  are  clean," 
and  the  Republican  star  gradually  rises  higher 
everywhere. 

Another  letter  reveals  that  Lincoln  realized  the 
elements  of  Douglas's  success,  and  yet  saw  in 
them  the  presage  of  early  Democratic  downfall. 

Springfield,  November   19,   1858. 
Henry  Asbury,   Esq. 

Dear  Sir:  Yours  of  the  13th  was  received  some 
days  ago.  The  fight  must  go  on.  The  cause  of  civil 
liberty  must  not  be  surrendered  at  the  end  of  one 
or  even  one  hundred  defeats.  Douglas  had  the  in- 
genuity to  be  supported  in  the  late  contest  both  as 
the  best  means  to  break  down  and  to  uphold  the 
slave  interest.  No  ingenuity  can  keep  these  antag- 
onistic elements  in  harmony  long.  Another  explosion 
will  soon  come. 

When  Douglas  returned  to  Chicago,  on  July  9, 
to  take  up  his  canvass  for  the  Senate,  Lincoln  was 
there  on  a  law  case,  and  he  listened  to  Douglas's 
harangue.  He  replied  to  him  next  night.  One  week 


276  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

of  Independence.     Just  one  week  later  Mr.  Lin- 
coln made  a  speech  at  his  home  in  the  same  tenor. 

Mr.  Lincoln  had  with  some  difficulty  induced 
Douglas  to  hold  a  joint  debate  with  him  in  seven 
different  places  in  the  State,  and  the  first  of  these 
joint  debates  took  place  at  Ottawa,  August  21 ; 
at  which  Douglas  opened  the  debate  with  a  vio- 
lent attack  on  Lincoln.* 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  there  was 
not  one  word  of  truth  in  Douglas's  charges ;  but 
the  distinguished  orator  evidently  acted  on  the  as- 
sumption that  "a  lie  will  travel  forty  leagues 
before  truth  gets  on  its  boots."  Lincoln  kept  his 
temper,  however,  and  he  made  a  most  dignified 
and  conclusive  answer.  ( I  may  say  that  I  had  the 
honor  to  be  Lincoln's  companion  de  voyage  on 
this  occasion.) 

The  next  debate  was  at  Freeport,  August  27, 
and  was  made  memorable  by  reason  of  the  trap 
which  Lincoln  baited  with  temporary  expediency, 
and  caught  Douglas's  chance  of  the  Presidency. 
It  occurred  thus :  At  Ottawa  Douglas  had  pro- 
pounded to  his  competitor  a  string  of  not  well- 
considered  questions,  easy  to  answer,  and  which 
Lincoln  cautiously  took  time  to  answer ;  and  then 
turned  the  tables  by  demanding  "a  Roland  for  an 
Oliver." 

Lincoln's  answers  demonstrate  conclusively 
that  he  was  looking  beyond  the  Senatorship,  for 
he  so  answered  as  to  lose  votes  in  that  canvass. 

*  The  Chicago  Tribune  thus  exhibited  the  style  of 
Douglas  during  the  debate:  "He  howled,  he  ranted, 
he  bellowed,  he  pawed  dirt,  he  shook  his  head,  he  turned 
livid  in  the  face,  he  struck  his  right  hand  with  his 
left,  he  foamed  at  the  mouth,  he  anathematized,  he 
cursed,  he  exulted,. he  domineered,— he  played  Douglas." 


'ATTAINMENT  OF  THE  PRESIDENCY    277 
In  fact,  he  was  then  in  an  "Abolition"  belt,  and 

ERRATUM 

Volume  /,  Page  276,  line  1.     Omit 
"of  Independence.     Just  one  week." 


of  success  or  of  getting  the  Southern  vote. 

Lincoln  summed  up  Douglas's  position  as  fol- 
lows :  "The  Judge  holds  that  a  thing  may  be  law- 
fully driven  away  from  a  place  where  it  has  a 
lawful  right  to  be." 

At  the  Brewster  House,  inFreeport,  just  before 
the  second  debate,  Lincoln  read  to  Washburne, 
Uncle  Sam  Hitt,  Tom  Turner,  Judd,  and  two  or 
three  others,  the  questions  he  was  going  to  spring 
on  Douglas.  Washburne  advised  against  it. 
Said  he :  "Douglas  will  hold  that,  notwithstand- 
ing the  Dred  Scott  decision,  the  people  can  ex- 
clude slavery.  You  give  him  the  chance  and  he'll 
beat  you  on  it."  "All  right,"  said  Lincoln,  "then 
that  kills  him  in  i860,  and  that  canvass  is  worth 
a  hundred  of  this.  I'm  playing  for  larger  game." 
It  turned  out  exactly  as  he  said,  attesting  the  won- 
derful political  prescience  of  Lincoln. 

As  Lincoln  and  I  went  north  en  route  to  the 
fourth  debate,  to  occur  at  Charleston,  September 
18,  he  informed  me  of  a  plan  of  attack  he  was  go- 
ing to  spring  upon  the  Little  Giant,  which  was  to 
charge  him  with  adopting  the  Toombs  bill,  which 


278  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

would  not  allow  a  vote  on  the  Lecompton  Consti- 
tution, Douglas's  especial  pride  and  boast  being 
the  allowance  of  a  popular  vote — popular  sover- 
eignty, as  he  termed  it. 

Douglas's  very  tame  answer  attests  the  sur- 
prise he  felt  at  the  shrewd  attack. 

The  remaining  debates  were  held  at  Galesburg, 
October  7;  Quincy,  October  13,  and  Alton,  Oc- 
tober 15. 

Lincoln  was  successful  in  securing  the  popular 
majority,  but,  owing  to  a  gerrymandered  appor- 
tionment, Douglas  was  elected  to  the  Senate  to 
be  his  own  successor. 

The  joint  debate,  nevertheless,  gave  Lincoln  a 
national  reputation,  and  he  began  to  get  invita- 
tions to  visit  other  States.  During  the  ensuing 
winter  he  visited  Kansas  and  was  received  with 
"open  arms."  At  Leavenworth  he  came  like  a 
conqueror ;  he  never  had  received  such  an  ovation 
as  that  before.  The  whole  city  joined  in  the  wel- 
come, flags  and  banners  waved,  all  windows,  bal- 
conies, and  sidewalks  were  filled  with  interested 
humanity,  a  procession  was  formed,  and  he,  the 
central  figure  in  it,  was  escorted  to  the  hotel, 
amid  the  loud  acclaim  of  the  masses. 

During  that  fall  George  E.  Pugh  was  run  by 
the  Democrats  of  Ohio  for  Governor,  his  com- 
petitor being  David  Tod  ;  and  Douglas  went  there 
to  help  Pugh.  The  Republicans  sent  for  Lincoln, 
and  he  spoke  at  Columbus  and  Cincinnati.  His 
speeches  on  those  occasions  were  among  the  very 
best  speeches  he  ever  made. 

In  October,  1859,  Lincoln  received  an  invita- 
tion from  the  Young  Men's  Republican  Associa- 
tion of  Brooklyn  to  deliver  an  address  in  Plym- 
outh Church.    This  he  accepted,  indicating  poli- 


ATTAINMENT  OF  THE  PRESIDENCY    279 

tics  as  his  theme,  and  February  27,  i860,  as  the 
date.  Throughout  the  winter  he  made  most 
elaborate  preparations,  obtaining  his  facts  from 
"Eliot's  Debates,"  and  writing  out  the  speech  in 
full.  Reaching  New  York  on  February  25  he 
found  that  he  had  builded  his  fame  better  than  he 
knew ;  that  the  leading  Republican  politicians 
were  on  the  qui  vive  to  hear  him,  and  that  to  cater 
to  this  demand  the  place  of  the  speaking  had  been 
changed  to  Cooper  Institute,  in  New  York  City. 
When  he  appeared  in  this  hall  of  so  many  stirring 
memories  he  found  it  packed,  standing  room  be- 
ing at  a  premium.  The  great  platform  was  full 
of  the  most  renowned  Republican  political  leaders 
in  New  York  and  Brooklyn.  After  an  introduc- 
tion by  the  venerable  William  Cullen  Bryant,  in 
fit  and  complimentary  terms,  Lincoln  delivered 
his  address,  the  most  recondite  political  speech 
made  during  the  pro-slavery  debate. 

This  great  speech  is  worthy  of  study.  It  was 
the  last  elaborate  speech  he  ever  made.  In  it  he 
departed  somewhat  from  his  former  style.  The 
close  political  student  will  notice  a  system,  for- 
malism, precision,  and  rigidity  of  logic  not  appar- 
ent in  former  speeches ;  a  terseness  and  vigor  of 
language  of  greater  emphasis  than  was  before 
known ;  an  absolute  pruning  of  all  redundancies, 
both  in  thought  and  in  expression.  It  was  a 
massive  structure  of  unhewn  logic,  without  an  in- 
terstice or  flaw.  Singular  to  say,  the  style,  in  some 
places,  is  almost  precisely  that  of  John  C.  Cal- 
houn, yet  the  speech  bears  the  same  relation  to 
the  slavery  issue,  as  it  then  presented  itself,  that 
Webster's  reply  to  Hayne  bore  to  "the  Constitu- 
tion and  the  Union"  in  1830.  It  was  a  dignified, 
stately,  solemn  declaration  of  the  concrete  princi- 


280  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

pies  of  liberty  as  they  existed  in  the  minds  of  the 
American  people  and  as  they  would  be  enforced 
by  them  at  the  first  opportunity. 

It  was  a  genuine  revelation  and  surprise.  The 
conservative  Evening  Post  published  the  speech 
entire  the  next  day  by  express  order  of  its  vener- 
able editor,  whose  warmest  commendation  Lin- 
coln also  received.  The  entire  press  of  the  city 
eulogized  it  in  the  highest  terms.  On  the  last  day 
of  winter,  in  i860,  Mr.  Lincoln  awoke  to  find 
himself  famous ;  on  the  first  day  of  winter  in 
i860,  he  was  President-elect  of  this  mighty  na- 
tion. 

I  can  hardly  portray  the  exhibition  which  Mr. 
Lincoln  made  of  himself  on  the  occasion  of  this 
trip.  Knowing  that  he  would  be  on  dress  parade, 
he  went  to  a  clothing  store  in  Springfield,  before 
he  started,  and  procured  a  brand-new  suit  of 
ready-made  clothes.  Of  course,  they  did  not  fit 
him — no  ready-made  suit  ever  did — so,  in  order 
to  make  the  trousers  appear  long  enough  they 
were  loosely  braced,  with  the  result  of  bagginess 
about  the  waist  and  thighs.  In  order  that  the 
waist  of  the  coat  should  be  near  the  right  place,  a 
garment  was  chosen  in  which  the  tails  were  too 
short,  and  the  rest  of  it  was  too  full.  Packed  in 
a  valise  the  suit  became  badly  wrinkled  on  the 
trip  East,  and  when  Lincoln  donned  it  on  the 
night  of  his  speech  it  presented  a  series  of  ridges 
and  valleys  like  the  inequalities  of  a  washboard, 
and  exhibited  telltale  creases  which  made  even 
Lincoln  feel  ill  at  ease,  for  the  audience  on  the 
platform  contained  the  elite  of  New  York  poli- 
ticians, dressed  in  the  most  genteel  fashion. 

Lincoln  was  more  embarrassed  at  the  com- 
mencement than  ever  before  on  a  like  occasion ; 


ATTAINMENT  OF  THE  PRESIDENCY    281 

yet,  being  satisfied  himself  with  his  speech,  and 
seeing,  as  he  progressed,  that  his  audience  was 
also  satisfied,  he  was  very  soon  "on  his  native 
heath."  However  much  of  rusticity  there  was  in 
his  appearance,  there  was  no  flavor  of  the  camp 
or  backwoods  in  his  performance,  and  his  audi- 
tory entirely  forgot  the  homeliness  of  the  orator 
in  the  charm  of  the  oration. 

After  the  meeting  was  over  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
introduced  to  a  great  many  of  the  leading  men, 
and  had  quite  an  ovation.  His  timidity  and  em- 
barrassment about  his  clothes  had  worn  off,  and 
he  was  as  "free  and  easy"  as  he  would  have  been 
in  an  Illinois  crowd.  The  Athenaeum  Club  invited 
him  to  its  rooms,  where  they  had  a  fine  supper 
spread,  and  Lincoln  was  the  lion  of  the  hour. 
There  was  no  formality,  but  there  was,  indeed,  "a 
feast  of  reason  and  flow  of  soul"  which  lasted  till 
the  "wee  sma'  hours."  Mr.  Lincoln  was  perfectly 
at  home.    He 

.  .  .  tauld  his  queerest  stories 

with  the  result  that  the  solemn  walls  of  the  club 
had  never  before  echoed  to  such  hilarity,  and 
when  the  party  broke  up,  and  two  gentlemen 
escorted  Lincoln  to  the  Astor  House,  every  one  of 
the  party  was  pleased  with  himself  and  with  all 
mankind. 

Lincoln  was  not  a  stoic,  neither  was  he  an 
epicurean ;  but  he  was  human,  and  on  this  occa- 
sion he  acted  on  the  adage,  "when  you  have  a 
good  thing  keep  it."  Consequently,  he  remained 
in  this  city  for  several  days,  seeing  it  in  a  judi- 
cious, moral  way. 

Invitations  came  from  many  parts  of  New  Eng- 
land to  him  to  stop  in  their  towns  and  cities  and 


282  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

address  them.  It  was  known  that  he  was  to  visit 
Exeter,  where  his  son  Robert  was  attending  Phil- 
lips Academy,  and  he  started  on  his  tour  of  New 
England  conquest.  On  March  5  he  was  at  Hart- 
ford, and  was  escorted  to  the  City  Hall  by  the  first 
company  that  had  been  organized  of  "Wide 
Awakes,"  those  marching  bands  that  played  a 
conspicuous  part  in  the  campaign  of  that  fall  all 
over  the  country.  Next  day  some  of  the  leading 
citizens  formed  a  committee  of  escort  and  showed 
him  all  over  the  city;  that  evening  he  spoke  at 
New  Haven  to  an  immense  audience.  Next  even- 
ing he  spoke  at  Meriden ;  at  Woonsocket,  R.  I., 
on  March  7;  and  at  Norwich,  Conn.,  March  8, 
and  at  Bridgeport,  March  10.  He  met  with  a  con- 
tinued ovation  everywhere.  His  success  was  ex- 
traordinary, the  sledge-hammer  logic  of  the  Illi- 
nois prairies  wonderfully  pleasing  his  audience. 
At  New  Haven,  the  Professor  of  Rhetoric  of 
Yale  College  attended  at  his  speech  and  gave  a 
lecture  on  its  rhetorical  style  the  next  day  to  his 
class.  That  evening,  taking  the  train  for  Meri- 
den, he  heard  him  the  ensuing  night  for  the  same 
purpose.  Lincoln  was  informed  of  this,  and  was 
very  much  astonished  at  it.  Having  visited  his 
son,  he  turned  homeward,  remaining  over  Sunday 
at  New  York,  where  he  heard  Beecher  preach  for 
the  second  time  that  trip.  Then  he  returned  to 
Springfield,  having  been  absent  four  weeks.  He 
was  perfectly  satisfied  with  his  trip,  there  not  hav- 
ing been  a  single  contretemps  or  error  in  it ;  it  was 
an  unmistakable  conqueror's  march. 

The  public  man  who  builds  up  a  career  while 
in  official  position  has  infinite  advantages  over  the 
unofficial  one.  The  former  can  impress  his  prin- 
ciples upon  laws  and  measures  of  legislation — 


ATTAINMENT  OF  THE  PRESIDENCY    2 S3 

can  make  himself  concretely  felt,  and  of  actual 
use  and  acquire  popularity  by  deeds.  He  can  also 
speak  in  a  greater  or  lesser  degree  ex  cathedra, 
with  the  voice  of  authority,  and  gain  listening 
ears.  He  has  access  to  archives  and  bureaus,  and 
documents,  and  his  utterances,  however  rapid, 
will  command  respect  and  attention.  "Hear  me 
for  my  cause,"  he  can  say.  The  unofficial  man 
must  be  of  exceptional  intellectual  altitude  to 
tower  above  his  fellows.  His  voice  must  have  a 
mighty  diapason  to  be  heard  above  the  din.  He 
must  be  a  giant,  indeed,  if  from  his  lowly  position 
he  can  compete  with  the  officially  favored.  Mr. 
Seward  had  been  in  official  position  for  many 
years  ;  had  been,  as  it  were,  the  official  head  of  the 
Republican  party,  its  guide,  counsellor,  and  friend. 
He  was  the  idol  of  the  Empire  State,  and  almost 
equally  the  idol  of  New  England.  His  volubility 
and  classicity  of  speech,  and  profundity  of  argu- 
ment were  wonderful,  and  he  was  a  leader  of 
men.  His  political  conscience  was  pliable  and 
elastic.  His  principles  were,  indeed,  bounded,  but 
the  corner  posts  were  a  great  ways  apart.  He 
was  versatile  and  prolific  of  political  finesse,  and 
also  of  intrigue.  Lincoln  was  guileless  in  the 
lower  realms  of  politics,  where  Seward  was 
matchless ;  but  in  the  highest  realms,  Lincoln 
brooked  no  rival,  and  he  had  by  unaccredited  and 
independent  labors  on  the  hustings,  within  three 
years,  placed  himself  on  a  conventional  equality 
with  Seward,  with  the  latter's  many  years  of 
training,  and  all  the  auxiliaries  of  a  regency,  his 
countless  political  friends  and  sycophants.  In  the 
whole  nation  Seward  had  barely  one  "foeman 
worthy  of  his  steel;"  it  was  Abraham  Lincoln. 
At  this  time  the  political  outlook  was  cheering 


284  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

for  the  Republican  party.  Douglas  had  been  read 
out  of  the  Southern  wing  of  the  Democratic  party 
for  the  heresy  which  Lincoln  had  forced  him  to 
at  Freeport.  As  he  was  the  only  exponent  of  his 
peculiar  Democracy  among  the  Democratic  hosts 
at  the  North,  it  was  obvious  to  even  the  superficial 
observer  that,  if  that  convention  nominated  Doug- 
las the  South  would  bolt  and  set  up  a  candidate  of 
their  own ;  and  that  if  the  convention  nominated 
any  other  than  Douglas,  especially  if  it  did 
the  bidding  of  the  pro-slavery  leaders,  there 
would  be  no  enthusiasm  at  the  North — and  the 
nominee  of  the  Republicans  would  carry  most  of 
the  Northern  States.  In  short,  no  man  but  Doug- 
las could  hope  to  carry  any  of  the  Northern 
States;  and  it  was  apparent  that  Douglas  could 
not  carry  any  of  the  Southern  States  unless  it 
might  be  one  or  two  of  the  border  States. 

Norman  B.  Judd  was  the  member  of  the  Re- 
publican National  Committee  from  Illinois.  He 
was  a  sly,  crafty,  shrewd  politician.  While  the 
Eastern  members  were  assuming  as  a  postulate 
and  foregone  conclusion  that  Seward's  nomina- 
tion was  an  accomplished  fact,  Judd's  artful  eye 
saw  behind  the  gossamer  veil  of  their  assurance 
a  chance  for  Lincoln,  and  he  commenced  his  plans 
far  ahead  to  achieve  his  nomination.  Judd  was 
also  a  candidate  for  the  gubernatorial  nomination 
in  Illinois  and  hoped  that  he  might  achieve  both 
his  nomination  and  Lincoln's.  Prior  to  i860,  all 
conventions  had  been  held  in  the  East ;  Baltimore 
being  the  great  convention  city.  In  fact,  nearly 
all  the  conventions  had  theretofore  been  held 
there.  Harrison,  however,  had  been  nominated  at 
Harrisburg,  and  Fremont  at  Philadelphia.  _  So 
Judd  made  the  novel  proposition  in  the  committee 


ATTAINMENT  OF  THE  PRESIDENCY    2S5 

that  the  convention  should  be  held  at  Chicago. 
He  argued  that  the  Democrats  had  departed  from 
the  ancient  custom  of  meeting  at  Baltimore,  and 
were  to  meet  at  Charleston ;  now,  argued  he,  let 
us  follow  their  example  and  meet  in  a  region 
where  we  can  make  proselytes  by  the  respect 
we  pay  to  that  region.  He  carefully  kept  "Old 
Abe"  out  of  sight,  and  the  delegates  failed  to  see 
any  personal  bearing  the  place  of  meeting  was  to 
have  on  the  nomination.  Judd  carried  his  point. 
He  was  a  railway  lawyer  and  he  approached  the 
various  railway  companies  whose  lines  were  in 
Illinois,  and  persuaded  them  to  make  very  cheap 
rates  of  fare  to  Chicago  during  the  convention 
week. 

On  May  10  the  State  Convention  met  at  De- 
catur and,  selecting  delegates  to  the  Chicago  Con- 
vention, instructed  them  to  support  Lincoln  for 
the  Presidency.  Judd  was  defeated  for  the  nomi- 
nation for  Governor,  but  was  elected  as  a  dele- 
gate-at-large  to  the  convention  and  chairman  of 
the  delegation.  The  convention  met  in  Chicago 
on  June  16.  The  railroads  had  made  a  cheap  ex- 
cursion rate  from  all  parts  of  the  State,  and  the 
city  was  filled  to  repletion  with  Illinoisans,  all 
brimful  of  enthusiasm  for  the  railsplitter  candi- 
date. The  Seward  claque  was  on  hand,  too,  but 
not  in  such  force.  This  was  in  every  way  a  no- 
table convention.  Not  until  the  middle  of  May 
was  it  definitely  decided  in  what  hall  it  should  be 
held.  The  largest  hall  of  the  city  was  the  Metro- 
politan, at  the  corner  of  Randolph  and  La  Salle 
streets,  and  it  was  expected  that  the  convention 
would  be  held  there.  In  April  preceding,  Mr. 
Lincoln  and  I  attended  an  entertainment  in  that 
hall,  and  we  then  talked  of  the  possible  scenes  to 


286  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

be  witnessed  there  two  months  later.  But  sagac- 
ity ruled  the  hour.  An  immense  crowd  would  be 
in  the  city  ready  to  shout  for  Uncle  Abe,  and  this 
hall  would  not  contain  a  tithe  of  them. 

In  the  early  days  of  Chicago  one  of  the  chief 
hotels  had  been  the  Sauganash,  kept  by  Alderman 
John  Murphy  and  located  at  the  southeast  corner 
of  Market  and  Lake  streets.  The  Sauganash, 
however,  had  gone  the  way  of  all  sublunary  things 
and  fallen  into  desuetude.  At  the  time  of  which 
I  write  no  structure  was  left.  The  site  where  it 
had  been  was  low,  covered  with  stagnant  water 
and  varied  by  the  appearance  of  sundry  tin  cans, 
hoop-skirts,  dead  cats,  and  other  debris  attendant 
upon  civic  progress.  The  Market  Street  front 
presented  a  wide  expanse,  ample  enough  to  ac- 
commodate any  probable  overflow  from  a  conven- 
tion hall.  The  site  was  at  once  secured,  and  a 
two-story  frame  structure  erected  which  was, 
with  no  apparent  sense  or  propriety,  termed  "The 
Wigwam."  The  Tremont  House,  five  blocks  east, 
was  chosen  as  the  headquarters  of  the  Lincoln 
coterie,  while  the  Richmond  House  was  the  head- 
quarters of  the  Seward  contingent.  Right  op- 
posite the  Tremont  House  the  Journal,  the  even- 
ing Republican  paper  of  the  city,  had  its  office, 
which  was  gay  with  banners,  among  which  was 
one  with  the  name:    SEWARD. 

David  Davis,  Stephen  T.  Logan,  Leonard 
Swett,  and  Jesse  K.  Dubois  were  the  leaders  of 
the  Lincoln  forces,  and  they  opened  headquarters 
with  a  very  feeble  prospect  in  view,  as  things  then 
appeared.  The  house  was  mainly  filled  with  the 
Seward  contingent,  finely  appearing  and  emi- 
nently talented  men,  with  national  reputations. 

The  leader  was  he  of  the  Mephistophelian  vis- 


'ATTAINMENT  OF  THE  PRESIDENCY    287 

age,  Thurlow  Weed.  There  were  George  William 
Curtis,  William  M.  Evarts,  William  Curtis 
Noyes,  Joshua  R.  Giddings,  Horace  Greeley, 
David  K.  Cartter,  John  A.  Andrew,  Austin  Blair, 
Carl  Schurz,  Caleb  B.  Smith,  Richard  Yates, 
Ozias  M.  Hatch,  George  Ashmun,  William  D. 
Kelley,  Edwin  D.  Morgan,  David  Wilmot,  George 
S.  Boutwell,  Frank  P.  Blair  Sr.,  John  A.  Kasson, 
William  T.  Otto,  Amos  Tuck,  Andrew  Reeder, 
Thomas  Corwin,  Columbus  Delano, — all  of  na- 
tional renown.  Even  the  Times,  the  Douglas  or- 
gan, was  forced  to  admit  that  it  was  a  remarkably 
fine-looking  body  of  men. 

All  was  bustle  and  excitement,  but  everything 
was  done  with  good  nature.  The  original  candi- 
dates were  William  H.  Seward,  Abraham  Lin- 
coln, Edward  Bates,  John  McLean, — old  Whigs ; 
and  Simon  Cameron,  Benjamin  F.  Wade,  Salmon 
P.  Chase,  Nathaniel  P.  Banks — old-line  Demo- 
crats. It  became  early  apparent  that  the  struggle 
would  be  between  the  two  first  named,  and  in 
point  of  fact  Banks  and  Wade  were  dropped  out 
of  consideration  before  the  convention  met,  which 
still  left  two  Ohio  men  in  the  contest,  McLean 
and  Chase.  Greeley  was  not  an  accredited  dele- 
gate from  his  own  State,  but,  as  Oregon  was  then 
a  great  way  off,  the  party  there  had  delegated 
Greeley  to  appear  for  them,  which  he  did.  His 
efforts  were  in  favor  of  "anybody  to  beat  Sew- 
ard," and,  considering  Edward  Bates,  of  Mis- 
souri, as  the  one  best  fitted  to  do  it,  he  worked 
with  the  Blairs  and  with  Maryland  and  Missouri 
to  achieve  that  end.  Yet  on  the  day  the  conven- 
tion met  his  paper  published  a  telegram  from  him 
saying:  "My  conclusion,  from  all  that  I  can 
gather,  is  that  the  opposition  to  Governor  Sew- 


288  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

ard  cannot  concentrate  on  any  candidate,  and  that 
he  will  be  nominated." 

Greeley,  at  that  time,  was  a  pariah  among  the 
delegates.  On  the  Sunday  morning  before  the 
convention  I  met  him  in  Clark  Street,  coming 
from  the  Lake  Shore  Depot  en  route  to  the  Tre- 
mont  House,  nearly  a  mile  away,  lugging  a  huge 
leather  satchel,  which  he  would  change  from  one 
hand  to  the  other  every  little  while.  There  were 
but  few  people  on  the  street  at  the  time,  but  he 
would  look  into  the  faces  of  all  whom  he  met  with 
an  air  of  bucolic  simplicity.  He  was  snubbed  in 
the  convention,  as  he  really  represented  no  con- 
stituency. There  were  but  few  Republicans  in 
Democratic  Oregon,  and  his  sole  weight  in  the 
convention  was  that  of  one  vote.  The  New  York 
delegates  hardly  knew  him  personally. 

Nearly  the  entire  delegation  from  Indiana 
came  there  with  the  specific  design  of  securing 
control  of  the  fat  Interior  Department  in  case  of 
Republican  success.  They  had  agreed  on  a  secre- 
tary of  that  department — Caleb  B.  Smith ;  a  Com- 
missioner of  Indian  Affairs,  William  P.  Dole, 
formerly  of  Indiana ;  and  on  candidates  for  some 
of  the  minor  offices.  They  then  opened  their  po- 
litical huckster  shop  and  spread  out  their  votes 
for  inspection.  As  there  was  close  intercom- 
munication between  Illinois  and  Indiana,  and 
Lincoln  had  served  in  Congress  with  Smith,  it 
was  quite  natural  that  they  should  give  Illinois 
their  support.  The  bargain  was  very  soon  made. 
Caleb  B.  Smith  was  to  be  Secretary  of  the  In- 
terior, Dole  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs ;  and 
the  vote  of  Indiana  was  to  be  solid  for  Lincoln. 
He,  therefore,  started  in  with  the  votes  of  Indiana 
and  Illinois. 


ATTAINMENT  OF  THE  PRESIDENCY    2S9 

The  next  block  of  votes  that  was  lying  around 
loose  was  the  Cameron  strength  in  Pennsylvania. 
This  was  more  difficult  to  manage.  Not  having 
yet  been  made  acquainted  with  Lincoln's  ethical 
tendencies,  Davis  got  Dubois  to  telegraph  to  Lin- 
coln that  they  could  secure  the  Cameron  delegates 
from  Pennsylvania  if  they  might  promise  Cam- 
eron the  Treasury.  Lincoln  replied  :  "I  author- 
ize no  bargains  and  will  be  bound  by  none."  Just 
ten  words — the  normal  length  of  a  telegraphic 
message !  Not  satisfied  with  this,  however,  he 
sent  a  copy  of  the  Missouri  Democrat  to  Herndon 
with  three  extracts  from  Seward's  speeches 
marked  ;  and  on  the  margin  of  which  he  had  writ- 
ten :  "I  agree  with  Seward's  'irrepressible  con- 
flict,' but  do  not  agree  with  his  'higher  law'  doc- 
trine." And  he  added,  "Make  no  contracts  that 
will  bind  me." 

Everybody  was  mad,  of  course.  Here  were 
men  working  night  and  day  to  place  him  on  the 
highest  mountain  peak  of  fame,  and  he  pulling 
back  all  he  knew  how.  What  was  to  be  done? 
The  bluff  Dubois  said  :  "Damn  Lincoln  !"  The 
polished  Swett  said,  in  mellifluous  accents :  "I 
am  very  sure  if  Lincoln  was  aware  of  the  necessi- 
ties  "      The     critical     Logan     expectorated 

viciously,  and  said :     "The  main  difficulty  with 

Lincoln     is "     Herndon     ventured :     "Now, 

friend,  I'll  answer  that."  But  Davis  cut  the  Gor- 
dian  knot  by  brushing  all  aside  with :  "Lincoln 
ain't  here,  and  don't  know  what  we  have  to  meet, 
so  we  will  go  ahead,  as  if  we  hadn't  heard  from 
him,  and  he  must  ratify  it.  The  Cameron  contin- 
gent was  secured  for  Lincoln  on  the  second  vote. 

The  convention  met  and  the  Seward  claque  was 
allowed  to  fill  the  hall  to  repletion.    An  organiza- 


290  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

tion  was  effected  by  calling  David  Wilmot  (of 
"proviso"  fame)  to  the  chair.  The  various  com- 
mittees were  appointed. 

The  second  day  was  consumed  in  settling  the 
rules  and  the  platform.  The  Seward  claque 
had  "open  sesame"  on  this  day  likewise.  The 
platform  was  adopted. 

When  the  second  plank  in  the  platform  was 
reported,  it  did  not  have  the  quotation  from  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  in  it,  and  Joshua  R. 
Giddings  moved  to  put  it  in ;  but  the  convention, 
somehow,  was  timid  and  afraid  to  do  it.  Gid- 
dings became  so  disgusted  and  demoralized  at 
this  result  that  he  left  the  convention.  After- 
wards, however,  the  matter  was  reconsidered, 
and  George  W.  Curtis  made  a  brief  speech  in 
which  he  shamed  the  convention  for  refusing  to 
repeat  the  sentiments  of  the  Continental  Con- 
gress, and  the  quotation  was  adopted  nem.  con. 

Next  day  the  balloting  was  to  take  place,  and 
by  a  political  "turn  of  the  wrist,"  known  only  to 
wicked  Chicago,  when  the  Seward  claque  were 
prepared  to  occupy  the  main  floor  of  the  hall  as 
before,  the  same  was  preoccupied  by  the  Lincoln 
claque.  To  the  consternation  of  the  Seward  fol- 
lowing they  had  to  be  content  with  their  two  days' 
largess,  already  enjoyed,  in  which  there  was  no 
political  utility.  The  convention  was  opened  and 
the  following  candidates  were  put  in  nomination : 

William  H.  Seward,  of  New  York,  nominated 
by  William  M.  Evarts ;  Abraham  Lincoln,  of  Illi- 
nois, nominated  by  Norman  B.  Judd ;  William  L. 
Dayton,  of  New  Jersey;  Simon  Cameron,  of 
Pennsylvania;  Salmon  P.  Chase,  of  Ohio;  Ed- 
ward Bates,  of  Missouri ;  Jacob  Collamer,  of 
Vermont;  John  McLean,  of  Ohio. 


'ATTAINMENT  OF  THE  PRESIDENCY    291 

Balloting-  began.  On  the  first  ballot,  Seward 
received  173^  votes;  Lincoln,  102  votes;  Cam- 
eron, 503/2  votes ;  Chase,  49  votes ;  Bates,  48 
votes ;  Dayton,  14  votes ;  McLean,  12  votes  ;  Col- 
lamer,  10  votes ;  with  scattering  votes  for  Wade, 
Reed,  Sumner,  and  Fremont. 

On  the  second  ballot  Lincoln  received  the 
larger  part  of  the  votes  that  had  been  cast  on  the 
first  ballot  as  complimentary  to  State  favorites 
who  stood  no  chance  of  being  nominated.  All 
of  Collamer's  came  to  him,  44  of  Cameron's,  6  of 
Chase's,  6  of  McLean's,  etc.  Lie  gained  79  votes 
while  Seward  gained  but  11,  making  the  total: 
Seward,  184^  ;  Lincoln,  181 ;  the  field,  99^. 

On  the  third  ballot,  this  current  of  votes  flow- 
ing to  Lincoln  became  a  flood,  even  Seward  los- 
ing 4l/2  votes.  Of  the  465  ballots  cast,  Lincoln 
received  231^,  and  Seward  180.  233  votes  were 
necessary  to  a  choice.  David  K.  Cartter,  of 
Ohio,  then  sprang  upon  his  chair  and  announced 
a  change  of  four  votes  from  his  State  from  Chase 
to  Lincoln,  completing  his  nomination.  Delega- 
tion vied  with  delegation  in  changing  to  Lincoln, 
making  his  nomination  virtually  unanimous, 
and  it  was  formally  so  ratified  on  the  motion  of 
William  M.  Evarts,  of  New  York. 

The  nominations  were  then  completed  by  the 

selection  of  Senator  Hannibal  Hamlin,  of  Maine, 

and  the  convention  adjourned,  while  the  city  was 

intoxicated  with  joy.* 

*  At  the  earnest  request  of  Jesse  K.  Dubois.  I  hunted 
up  W.  R.  Arthur,  Superintendent  of  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad,  whom  I  found  at  McVicker's  Theatre,  and 
got  an  order  for  a  special  train  to  go  via  Toledo  to 
Springfield  in  advance  of  the  Committee,  and  to  carry 
Dubois,  Bill  Butler,  Judge  Logan,  and  other  of  Lin- 
coln's neighbors,  so  they  could  fix  up  things  before 
the  Committee  should  reach  Springfield. 


^92  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

During  the  sitting-  of  the  convention  Lincoln 
had  been  trying,  in  one  way  and  another,  to  keep 
down  the  excitement  which  was  pent  up  within 
him,  playing  billiards  a  little,  town  ball  a  little, 
and  story-telling  a  little.  When  the  news  actually 
reached  him  he  was  in  the  editorial  office  of  the 
Journal.  He  got  up  at  once  and  allowed  a  little 
crowd  to  shake  hands  with  him  mechanically, 
then  said :  "I  reckon  there's  a  little  short  woman 
down  at  our  house  that  would  like  to  hear  the 
news,"  and  he  started  with  rapid  strides  for 
home. 

The  canvass  which  ensued  was  spirited,  Doug- 
las leading  a  forlorn  hope  by  canvassing  person- 
ally and  making  speeches  in  all  parts  of  the  coun- 
try where  he  thought  he  had  any  prospect  of 
catching  votes.  It  was  a  very  humiliating  and  for 
that  time  unique  spectacle.  Never  before  had  a 
man  seeking  this  most  exalted  position  gone  about 
personally  soliciting  votes.  The  whole  country 
was  aroused.  The  "Wide  Awakes"  evoked  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  superficial,  and  the  leading  poli- 
ticians were  all  active  and  enthusiastic  on  the 
stump,  appealing  to  the  patriotism  and  reason  of 
the  thinking  masses.  The  State  elections  which 
took  place  in  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Pennsylvania 
went  so  overwhelmingly  Republican  as  to  leave 
scarcely  any  doubt  of  Lincoln's  election,  but  when 
the  returns  actually  came  in  they  were  more  than 
satisfactory. 

The  result  was  as  follows : 

Popular  Vote.  Electoral  Vote. 

Lincoln     ....   1,857,610      Lincoln 180 

Douglas        ...   1,365,976  Breckinridge     ....  72 

Breckinridge       .      847,953      Bell      39 

Bell 590,631      Douglas     12 


ATTAINMENT  OF  THE  PRESIDENCY    293 

February  13  following,  John  C.  Breckinridge 
himself,  resisting  all  allurements  held  out  to  him 
by  those  who  supported  him  and  by  his  political 
friends,  then  acting  like  a  true  man  and  a  man 
of  honor,  presided  over  the  canvass  of  votes  and 
declared  that  Abraham  Lincoln  and  Hannibal 
Hamlin,  having  received  the  greatest  number  of 
votes  for  President  and  Vice  President,  respect- 
ively, were  President  and  Vice  President  elect. 


CHAPTER    XV 

INAUGURATION   AS   PRESIDENT 

On  the  first  day  of  February,  1861,  Mr.  Lin- 
coln and  myself,  designing  to  go  East  for  about 
one  hundred  miles,  left  his  house,  and  proceeded 
part  of  the  way  "across  lots,"  to  the  Great  West- 
ern Depot  (now  Wabash),  on  which  line  I  had 
procured  a  pass  for  him.  His  baggage  consisted 
of  an  old  carpetbag  which  he  had  carried  on  the 
circuit  for  several  years,  and  which  was  well  worn 
and  was  in  a  state  of  collapse.  No  crowd  then 
attended  our  truly  democratic  departure.  Ten 
days  later  he  again  visited  the  same  depot,  but  the 
incidents  then  were  like  to  those  of  a  royal  prog- 
gress,  for  he  was  then  en  route  to  the  perform- 
ance of  the  greatest  mission  ever  entrusted  to  a 
mortal  man. 

A  special  train  was  provided,  and  the  following 
named  persons  were  of  the  party :  Mrs.  Lincoln 
and  the  three  sons,  Robert  Todd,  William  Wal- 
lace, and  Thomas  (nicknamed  "Tad")  ;  Governor 
Yates,  ex-Governor  John  Moore,  Norman  B. 
Judd,  David  Davis,  Orville  H.  Browning,  B. 
Forbes,  Dr.  W.  S.  Wallace  (the  President's 
brother-in-law),  Ward  H.  Lamon,  George  C. 
Latham,  Elmer  E.  Ellsworth,  Lockwood  Todd, 
Colonel  E.  V.  Sumner,  U.  S.  A. ;  Captain  John 
Pope,  Major  David  Hunter,  George  W.  Hazard, 
J.  M.  Burgess,  John  G.  Nicolay,  and  John  Hay. 

294 


INAUGURATION  AS  PRESIDENT         295 

The  train  was  under  the  charge  of  General  W.  S. 
Wood.* 

When  the  party  was  embarked  Mr.  Lincoln  ap- 
peared on  the  back  platform,  and  in  an  abstracted 
way,  gazing  mournfully  at  the  little  concourse  of 
people  who  had  assembled,  made  a  valedictory  to 
his  townsmen,  which  was  filled  with  religious 
emotion. 

The  train  then  moved  eastward  and  the  Presi- 
dent-elect remained  on  the  platform  until  the  en- 
larging fields  and  diminishing  houses  indicated 
that  he  was  beyond  the  limits  of  the  city  where  he 
had  achieved  national  fame ;  but  he  did  not  then 
know  though  he  did  fear  that  it  was  his  last  lin- 
gering glance. 

On  this  journey  the  President  spoke  at  Indian- 
apolis, once  to  the  citizens,  and  once  to  the  Legis- 
lature ;  at  Cincinnati,  at  Columbus,  before  the 
Legislature;  at  Steubenville ;  Pittsburg;  Cleve- 
land; Buffalo;  Albany  (twice)  ;  New  York  City 
(several  times)  ;  Trenton  (three  times,  once  be- 
fore the  Legislature)  ;  Philadelphia  (twice)  ;  and 
Harrisburg,  before  the  Legislature ;  besides  mak- 
ing short  formal  remarks  at  stopping-places  along 
the  route,  such  as  Syracuse  and  Hudson,  in  the 
State  of  New  York. 

Throughout  the  long  journey  the  highest 
demonstrations  of  respect  and  honor  were  ac- 
corded by  the  people  of  all  parties  and  classes 
toward  their  future  Chief  Magistrate.  Even 
Fernando  Wood,  then  Mayor  of  New  York,  made 
an    unobjectionable,    though    not    very    cordial, 

*  Three  of  this  party  were  army  officers  sent  by  Gen- 
eral Scott  and  two  were  detectives  furnished  by  Pinker- 
ton.  Some  of  the  party  left  en  route.  Judd  left  at 
Harrisburg  on  the  train  after  Lincoln. 


296  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

speech  of  welcome,  while  nearly  all  the  addresses 
of  welcome  were  couched  in  such  terms  of  respect 
and  veneration  as  to  leave  no  doubt  of  the  excel- 
lent disposition  generally  entertained ;  and  the  en- 
thusiasm of  the  masses  attested  the  public  devo- 
tion alike  to  the  person  of  their  Executive  and 
social  head  and  to  the  Government,  then  believed 
to  be  seriously  imperilled. 

In  all  places  through  which  the  train  was  to 
pass,  great  crowds  were  assembled,  and  not  a 
single  disparaging  remark  was  uttered  audibly. 
Apparently  all  was  amity  and  good  feeling,  and 
those  who  had  cast  their  votes  for  another  were 
not  at  all  displeased  at  the  hearty  enthusiasm 
evoked  in  which  likewise  they,  in  many  instances, 
joined.  Business  was  suspended  in  many  places 
and  a  holiday  taken.  Gay  equipages  were  pro- 
vided for  the  presidential  party,  and  the  streets 
through  which  the  cavalcade  was  to  pass  were 
profusely  decorated  with  the  highest  artistic  taste 
and  patriotic  design.  The  star-spangled  banner 
was  regnant  and  exalted. 

At  Indianapolis,  a  Republican  Governor,  Mor- 
ton, greeted  him ;  at  Cincinnati,  a  Democratic 
Mayor.  At  Buffalo  he  was  welcomed  by  Millard 
Fillmore,  one  of  his  predecessors ;  at  Albany  by 
Governor  Morgan  ;  and  at  New  York  City  by  that 
ne  plus  ultra  of  Democrats,  Fernando  Wood.  At 
several  places,  as  Syracuse  and  Hudson,  plat- 
forms were  erected,  the  design  being  that  the 
President-elect  should  speak  from  them;  but  to 
accomplish  that  would  have  produced  an  unwar- 
rantable delay,  and  he  was  obliged  to  decline. 

The  author  of  the  "Reply  to  Hayne"  once  at- 
tempted to  make  a  "by-the-way"  speech  at  Alton, 
and  the  editor  of  the  paper  reported  that  "he  beat 


INAUGURATION  AS  PRESIDENT        297 

the  air  and  bellowed  and  said  nothing-."  So  again 
at  Rochester,  after  vainly  attempting  to  say  some- 
thing for  a  long  time,  the  eloquent  defender  of  the 
Constitution  abruptly  closed  by  venturing,  "I'm 
told  you  have  a  175-foot  waterfall  here ;  no  people 
ever  lost  their  liberty  who  had  such  a  high  water- 
fall as  that." 

In  a  similarly  false  and  illogical  position  was 
Mr.  Lincoln  placed  when  he  made  his  Eastern 
tour  in  February,  1861.  His  important  speeches 
in  prior  canvasses  had  been  widely  heralded,  and 
his  fame  had  acquired  strength  and  momentum 
by  a  persistency  of  iteration  and  reiteration. 
Great  intellectual  feats  were  expected  from  his 
reported  ability,  and  high  moral  and  political  ut- 
terances from  his  unique  position,  while  obvious 
policy  and  imperious  necessity  demanded  that  he 
keep  his  best  thoughts  to  himself,  yet  with  no 
studied  appearance  of  having  done  so.  The  net 
result  of  all  was  that  he  was  expected  to  entertain 
the  thronging  masses,  to  make  a  favorable  and 
popular  impression,  and  yet  omit  all  significant 
reference  to  that  very  line  of  remark  which  the 
people  wanted  to  hear.  In  the  first  place  Lincoln 
was  that  style  of  orator  and  man  of  the  world 
who  could  not  talk  effectively  about  nothing. 
He  must  have  something  to  say  and  somebody  to 
convince.* 

*  The  marked  contempt  with  which  both  the  "out- 
going" and  "incoming"  President  were  regarded  in 
some  quarters,  will  be  shown  by  this  incident.  The 
Cleveland  Plain  Dealer  had  a  cut  representing  "Old 
Buck"  resigning  the  Chair  of  State  to  Lincoln.  The 
Chair  is  in  a  most  dilapidated  condition.  The  dia- 
logue was  thus:  Buchanan:  "Mr.  Lincoln,  Sir,  it  is 
with  infernal  satisfaction  I  surrender  to  you  the  Presi- 
dential chair,  not  so  sound,  it  is  true,  as  when  I  took 


298  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

In  view  of  these  drawbacks  he  spoke  well,  but 
did  not  equal  public  expectation.  The  people 
longed  to  hear  from  his  lips  the  avowal  of  a  de- 
fined and  trenchant  policy  toward  the  incipient 
treason  which  was  becoming  epidemic  in  the  cot- 
ton-growing States.  They  earnestly  desired  that 
he  should  exhibit  a  certificate  that  even  as  the 
crisis  had  come  so  also  had  come  the  man.  Had 
he  simply  declared,  as  he  did  on  May  29,  1856,  the 
integrity  of  the  Union,  no  limit  could  have  been 
assigned  to  the  spontaneous  enthusiasm  which  he 
might  have  evoked.  But  he  knew  the  dizzy  em- 
inence whereon  he  stood,  and  the  gravity  of  the 
political  situation  better  than  the  public,  and  it 
was  quite  clear  to  him  that  his  paramount  duty 
was  to  allow  no  obstacle  to  intervene  between  the 
anomalous  political  situation  and  the  acquisition 
of  the  helm  of  State,  not  to  alarm  or  inflame  the 
conservative  Southern  mind  and  the  border  slav? 
States,  nor  weaken  the  alliance  or  devotion  of 
the  Northern  Democratic  party  to  the  Union. 

Accordingly  at  Springfield,  where  he  made  his 
first  speech,  he  merely  took  an  affectionate  leave 
of  his  neighbors,  without  any  exhibition  of  his 
political  intent.  A  similar  policy  controlled  him 
at  Tolono,  where  he,  with  excellent  taste  and  dis- 

it.  You  will  observe,  before  scttin'  down,  that  I've 
broke  its  back  and  bust  its  bottom.  Nevertheless, 
what  is  left  of  it  is  yours.  Take  it,  and  make  your- 
self as  happy  as  you  can." 

Lincoln:  "Thank  you,  Mr.  Buchannon— thank  you. 
I  accept  this  Cheer,  Sir,  with  pleasure,  Sir.  I  see 
'nothing  the  matter'  with  it;  'nobody  hurt.'  If  I  fad  to 
fill  it,  Sir,  I  hope  to  make  up  in  length  what  I  may 
fall  short  in  breadth."  The  expressions,  it  will  be 
remembered,  are  some  rather  vapid  ones  used  by  Mr. 
Lincoln  en  route  to  Washington. 


INAUGURATION  AS  PRESIDENT        299 

cretion,  said :  "I  am  leaving  you  on  an  errand 
of  national  importance,  attended,  as  you  are 
aware,  with  considerable  difficulties.  Let  us  be- 
lieve, as  some  poet  has  expressed  it,  'Behind  the 
cloud,  the  sun  is  still  shining.'  " 

His  second  speech  at  Indianapolis,  however, 
should  have  satisfied  any  reasonable,  conservative 
citizen,  for  he  then  and  there,  in  an  undemon- 
strative, tentative,  and  indirect  way,  gave  ample 
assurance  that  "the  Federal  Union  must  and  shall 
be  preserved." 

Nor  could  anything  have  been  in  better  taste  or 
more  neatly  done  than  his  almost  total  self-abne- 
gation and  his  delegation  of  the  responsibilities  of 
the  crisis  upon  the  people  themselves.  The  peo- 
ple are  prone  to  fallaciously  reason  that  a  ruler 
has  some  occult  power  and  unusual  personal  in- 
terest in  the  Government.  The  President-elect, 
at  Indianapolis,  conclusively  dispelled  this  vain 
idea  in  a  single  sentence,  thus :  "It  is  your  busi- 
ness and  not  mine.  If  the  Union  of  these  States 
and  the  liberties  of  this  people  shall  be  lost,  it  is 
but  little  to  any  one  man  of  fifty-two  years  of  age, 
but  a  great  deal  to  the  thirty  millions  of  people 
who  inhabit  these  United  States,  and  to  their 
posterity  in  all  coming  time." 

In  addition  to  his  elaborate  speeches  he  spoke 
at  many  of  the  way  places  briefly.  It  will  be 
noted  that  this  journey  was  very  shrewdly 
planned,  and  gave  the  President-elect  an  oppor- 
tunity to  impress  himself  upon  the  Legislatures 
of  the  five  great  States  of  Indiana,  Ohio,  New 
York,  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey.  I  am  in- 
clined to  think  that  the  public  generally  was  dis- 
appointed at  the  reticence  manifested  by  him  as  to 
!his  policy,  and  at  the  intellectual  feebleness  of  his, 


3°o  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

speeches.  The  crisis  demanded  a  great  leader,  the 
people  wanted  assurances  that  he  was  one,  and, 
if  he  had  emitted  Jacksonian  flashes  of  patriotic 
fire,  enthusiasm  would  have  gathered  force,  like 
ocean  waves.  This,  however,  would  have  been 
of  questionable  wisdom.  As  I  have  said,  Lincoln 
was  better  informed  of  the  status  of  affairs  than 
the  public,  and  he  knew  of  the  supreme  impor- 
tance of  getting  control  of  the  Government  before 
any  entente  or  disturbance  was  made. 

On  the  night  of  February  22-23  I  passed 
through  Harrisburg,  en  route  for  Philadelphia; 
and,  on  arising  in  the  morning,  was  surprised  to 
find  my  friend,  Norman  B.  Judd,  on  the  train. 
He  informed  me  that  he  had  come  on  board  at 
Harrisburg;  and  in  reply  to  my  questions  he  in- 
dicated that  he  had  grown  so  nervous  at  the  noise 
and  excitement  of  the  journey  with  the  President 
that  he  had  concluded  to  slip  quietly  away  where 
he  could  get  some  rest  and  tranquillity.  He  ques- 
tioned me  as  to  what  I  had  heard  about  the  jour- 
ney so  closely  as  to  arouse  my  curiosity,  and  he 
whispered  to  me  significantly,  "I'll  tell  you  more 
when  we  get  to  Philadelphia."  What  he  had  to 
tell  I  will  now  narrate  substantially  as  he  told  it 
to  me.  Before  I  parted  with  Judd,  we  mentally 
thanked  God  that  our  friend,  the  President-elect, 
was  safe  in  Washington.  "You  see,"  Judd  said, 
"Pinkerton  (our  Pinkerton)  had  been  engaged  by 
the  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore  Railroad  to  watch 
their  road,  which  there  was  reason  to  believe 
would  be  assailed  at  some  point  by  the  rebs  to  de- 
stroy communication  with  the  North ;  and  while 
so  engaged,  he  learned  that  a  plot  was  being 
worked  up  to  assassinate  Lincoln  while  he  was 
passing  through  Baltimore.    He  informed  me  of 


INAUGURATION  AS  PRESIDENT        3°i 

this  in  a  letter  which  was  delivered  to  me  at  the 
Burnet  House  in  Cincinnati,  but  which  I  kept 
entirely  private,  not  telling  any  of  the  party. 
Pinkerton  also  stated  that  he  would  advise  me 
further  during  our  progress  eastward.  I  promptly 
replied  to  him,  acknowledging  receipt  of  his  note, 
and  urging  him  to  prosecute  his  research.  While 
we  were  at  Buffalo  on  Sunday,  I  received  another 
letter,  saying  that  he  was  pursuing  investigations 
and  would  keep  me  advised.  On  reaching  the 
Astor  House,  at  New  York,  I  was  summoned  to 
a  certain  room  in  the  upper  part  of  the  hotel.  I 
found  there  a  lady  who  gave  her  name  as  War- 
ner (I  think)  and  who  had  a  letter  from  Pinker- 
ton,  introducing  her  as  the  chief  of  his  female  de- 
tective department.  Her  object  in  coming  was  to 
arrange  a  meeting  for  me  with  Pinkerton  himself 
at  Philadelphia.  No  place  was  then  designated, 
but  we  agreed  that  I  should  be  notified  then.  It 
seemed  quite  unnecessary  to  send  a  woman  clear 
to  New  York  to  do  what  a  telegram  or  letter 
would  have  done  as  well.  Mysteries  increased, 
for  when  I  got  to  Philadelphia  a  man  passed 
through  the  crowd,  and  gave  me  a  fictitious  ad- 
dress at  the  St.  Louis  Hotel.  There  I  found 
Pinkerton  under  an  assumed  name  awaiting  me 
and  with  him  Mr.  Felton,  president  of  the  Balti- 
more Railroad.  From  their  representations  I  be- 
came satisfied  that  a  well-matured  and  organized 
plot  did  exist  to  kill  Lincoln  in  Baltimore ;  and  I 
then  saw  that  something  must  be  done.  I  ar- 
ranged to  have  Pinkerton  meet  me  at  my  room 
at  the  Continental,  and  sent  for  Lincoln,  whom 
Pinkerton  informed  of  the  whole  affair,  strongly 
urging  that  the  President  go  on  through  secretly 
that  night.    Lincoln  was  fully  impressed  with  the 


302  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

gravity  of  the  situation  and  the  necessity  of  ac- 
tion ;  but  he  was  resolute  in  his  purpose  to  raise 
the  flag  on  Independence  Hall  and  meet  the  Leg- 
islature at  Harrisburg  the  next  day.  After  that, 
he  said,  he  would  do  as  I  said.  I  then  had  a  con- 
ference with  the  officials  of  both  railways,  the 
telegraph  people,  and  Pinkerton ;  and  developed 
the  following  plan,  which  has  been  strictly  fol- 
lowed, so  far  as  I  know :  Lincoln  should  fill  all 
of  his  appointments,  and  leave  Harrisburg  at  six 
o'clock  Friday  evening  on  a  special  train  for  Phil- 
adelphia, at  which  hour  the  telegraph  wires 
should  be  cut  at  Harrisburg;  the  Baltimore  train 
should  be  held  at  Philadelphia  till  Lincoln  was 
aboard,  and  then  go  on  to  Baltimore ;  Hill  Lamon 
should  go  with  Lincoln  all  the  way,  and  Pinker- 
ton  should  meet  Lincoln  and  Lamon  at  Philadel- 
phia, and  go  with  them  clear  through ;  and  Pink- 
erton should  have  some  one  secure  the  sleeping 
car  sections  from  Philadelphia  to  Washington  in 
rear  of  car,  and  Lincoln  should  be  represented  as 
an  invalid.  I  was  up  nearly  all  night,  getting 
these  arrangements  made,  which  none  of  our 
party  as  yet  knew  about,  although  they  saw  that 
something  was  up.  When  Lincoln  got  up  next 
morning  he  found  Fred.  Seward  there  with  a  mes- 
sage from  his  father  to  the  effect  that  he  must 
come  to  Washington  in  a  clandestine  manner,  as 
he  had  authentic  evidence  of  the  existence  of  a 
conspiracy  to  kill  him  as  he  attempted  to  go 
through  Baltimore.  This,  of  course,  confirmed 
the  wisdom  of  my  plans,  as  Seward's  information 
came  from  other  sources  than  ours.  I  dismissed 
young  Seward  with  a  message  to  his  father  that 
Mr.  Lincoln  would  reach  Washington  at  six 
o'clock    next    morning.    I    then    disclosed    the 


INAUGURATION  AS  PRESIDENT        3°3 

arrangements  I  had  made  to  Lincoln,  who 
was  perfectly  unexcited,  but  agreed  to  all. 
I  told  him  I  wanted  the  judgment  of  others 
of  our  party,  to  which  he  agreed ;  accord- 
ingly I  got  Davis,  Sumner,  Pope,  and 
Hunter,  and  one  or  two  others  together  and 
briefly  told  them  what  I  knew,  and  what  I  had 
done.  Davis  was  quite  sceptical,  I  think  because 
of  the  stigma  which  would  rest  on  Maryland, 
where  he  came  from ;  but  finally,  after  insinua- 
tions of  doubt  on  his  part,  both  of  the  facts  and 
wisdom  of  my  plan,  he  said :  'Well,  Lincoln, 
you  have  heard  the  whole  story,  what  do  you 
think  about  it  yourself?'  Lincoln  replied  quite 
carelessly :  'I've  thought  the  matter  over  fully 
and  reckon  I  had  better  do  as  Judd  says.  The 
facts  come  from  two  different  and  reliable 
sources,  and  I  don't  consider  it  right  to  disregard 
both.'  'That  settles  it,'  said  Davis,  a  trifle  dis- 
appointed, I  think,  first  because  it  was  a  slight  on 
his  State,  second  because  it  was  my  plan,  and 
third  because  he  had  a  poor  opinion  of  detective 
business.  Sumner  was  angry  at  the  selection  of 
Lamon,  and  he  said  grimly :  'One  thing  I  want 
distinctly  understood,  that  I'm  going  to  Washing- 
ton with  the  President.  Such  were  my  orders 
from  General  Scott,  and  I'm  going  to  carry  them 
out'  We  all  tried  to  reason  him  out  of  it,  but 
made  no  impression  at  all  and  I  was  then  sorry  I 
told  him  anything  about  it.  In  fact,  I  am  sorry  I 
told  anybody,  for  I  have  got  in  trouble  with  Sum- 
ner and  it  has  done  no  good  anyway.  However, 
Sumner  kept  strict  watch,  and  when  Lincoln  left 
the  dinner  table  at  Harrisburg,  just  before  six, 
Sumner  was  on  hand.  I  instructed  Lamon  what 
to  do,  and  as  Lincoln  and  he  got  in  the  carriage 


3°4  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

to  go  l  diverted  Sumner's  attention  for  a  single 
moment,  which  threw  him  off  his  guard,  and 
when  he  turned  to  get  in  the  carriage,  as  he  had  in- 
tended, it  was  out  of  reach, the  horses  galloping  on 
the  way  to  the  train.  Sumner,  to  carry  out  his  pro- 
gram, should  have  followed,  of  course,  but  he 
was  stunned  with  anger,  and  lost  his  presence  of 
mind.  I  never  got  such  a  scoring  in  all  my  life — 
I  was  fearful  he  would  assault  me.  However,  I 
was  so  glad  that  my  scheme  went  through  with 
nothing  but  a  'cussin  '  that  on  the  whole  I  felt 
good  over  it,  though  I  did  not  get  a  wink  of  sleep 
that  night  except  what  little  I  got  on  the  train  be- 
fore I  saw  you.  I  came  on  to  Philadelphia  by  the 
first  train  to  get  the  news  and  to  be  within  tele- 
graphic reach  and  do  anything  necessary,  for,  of 
course,  I  could  not  be  certain  what  might  happen. 
I  now  see  that  so  much  planning  and  letting  so 
many  in  the  secret,  at  a  time  when  we  were  all  on 
public  exhibition,  was  not  the  right  way  to  do  it." 
Judd  also  informed  me  that  his  reasons  for 
selecting  Lamon  were :  First,  Lamon  was  a 
Southerner — had  the  Southern  dialect  and  ap- 
pearance— and  if  any  parleying  should  be  neces- 
sary, he  could  ward  off  suspicion  as  to  his  charge 
better  than  a  Northern  man  could,  since  it  would 
not  be  presumed  that  a  Southerner  would  have 
Lincoln  in  charge.  Second,  Lamon  habitually 
carried  two  revolvers  in  a  belt  so  ostentatiously 
that  I  knew  it,  and  I  believed  he  would  use  them 
effectively  if  necessary.  Third,  Lamon  was  not 
known  as  Sumner  or  Hunter  was.  Judd  also  in- 
formed me  that  Lincoln  was  to  be  represented  as 
a  sick  man,  and  that  when  the  conductor  came 
around  one  of  the  party  was  to  give  him  the 
tickets  which  had  been  bought  for  the  President. 


INAUGURATION  AS  PRESIDENT        3°5 

"Lincoln,"  said  Judd,  "was  disguised  no  further 
than  this :  He  wore  the  bobtail  overcoat  he  had 
used  all  winter,  and  had  a  shawl,  and  soft  felt  hat 
he  had  borrowed  for  the  trip.  I  have  no  doubt  an 
attempt  would  have  been  made  to  kill  him,  but  I 
also  think,  as  we  knew  it  in  advance,  we  could 
have  prevented  it ;  but  with  the  warnings  we  had 
it  would  have  been  criminal  to  have  let  the  Presi- 
dent be  exposed  to  a  needless  risk  for  the  sake  of 
appearance.  I  will  say  that  Lincoln  did  not  show 
the  least  excitement  or  fear  throughout,  but  took 
a  sensible  and  unexcited  view  of  it,  and  demeaned 
himself  just  as  he  would  had  Davis  or  any  other 
of  the  party  been  the  person  in  danger. 

"I  reached  Baltimore,"  concluded  Judd,  "in  the 
afternoon  of  the  day  Lincoln  had  passed  through, 
and  though  it  was  rainy,  I  was  out  on  the  streets 
during  the  rest  of  that  and  the  next  day  (Sunday) 
and  was  a  witness  of  the  deep  disappointment  felt 
by  the  roustabouts,  street  loafers,  and  low  orders, 
that  the  President-elect  was  safely  at  Washing- 
ton. At  that  time,  I  felt  fully  assured  that  a 
deep-laid  plot  for  his  assassination  had  been 
formed.  I  deem  it  idle  to  argue  against  this 
theory.    It  is  a  well-attested  fact." 

Just  as  daylight  was  breaking  on  the  morning 
of  Saturday,  February  23,  1861,  the  night  train 
from  Philadelphia  rolled,  as  usual,  into  the  sole 
and  dingy  depot  at  Washington.  The  pas- 
sengers hastily  debarked  and  made  their  way 
through  the  narrow  shed  towards  the  exit  in 
front,  the  last  to  leave  being  a  party  of  three,  one 
of  whom,  attired  in  a  soft  felt  hat  and  bobtail 
overcoat  resembling  a  sailor's  pea-jacket,  would 
have  been  noticeable  anywhere  from  the  contrast 
in  the  length  of  the  man  and  the  brevity  of  his 


306  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

outward  integuments,  for  his  coat  and  pantaloons 
were  altogether  too  brief  for  their  wearer.  But 
there  were  no  spectators  to  take  note  of  these 
peculiarities  except  one  muffled-up  individual  who 
had  long  been  standing  in  the  shadow  of  a  pillar 
and  who  hastily  emerged  as  this  party  came  for- 
ward, exclaiming,  "You  can't  play  that  on  me, 
Abe."  The  man  in  the  pea-jacket  overcoat  ex- 
claimed heartily,  to  all  whom  it  might  concern, 
"It's  Washburne."  Then  the  whole  party  shook 
hands  all  around,  and  all  four,  getting  into  a  hack, 
were  driven  to  the  ladies'  entrance  of  Willard's 
Hotel.  These,  and  about  three  other  persons, 
alone  of  the  whole  slumbrous  city,  were  aware  that 
the  President-elect,  the  man  whose  name  was  in 
every  newspaper  in  the  entire  civilized  world,  had 
thus  clandestinely  and  furtively  come  to  assume 
the  charge  of  the  Government. 

Mr.  Judd  and  Judge  Davis  each  assured  me 
afterward  that  they  believed  that  a  well-devel- 
oped attempt  would  have  been  made  to  assassi- 
nate the  President  had  he  gone  openly  through 
Baltimore ;  but  Mr.  Lincoln  said  to  me  afterward : 
"I  do  not  think  I  should  have  been  killed,  or  even 
that  a  serious  attempt  would  have  been  made  to 
kill  me  unless  some  excitement  had  arisen ;  but 
Judd  and  other  cool  heads  thought  I  had  better 
take  the  course  I  did,  and  I  reckon  they  were 
right;  it  ain't  best  to  run  a  risk  of  any  conse- 
quence for  looks'  sake." 

A  suite  of  rooms  had  been  engaged  for  the 
President  and  his  family  on  the  second  floor  of 
Willard's,  just  over  the  main  entrance  and  front- 
ing on  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  and  thither  Mr.  Lin- 
coln was  at  once  conducted,  where  he  proceeded 
to  make  a  hasty  toilet.    While  he  was  thus  en- 


INAUGURATION  AS  PRESIDENT        3°7 

gaged  Senator  Seward  came  hastily  in,  much 
disconcerted  to  know  that  he  had  misapprehended 
the  hour  of  arrival  and  had  lost  the  opportunity 
to  greet  his  chief  at  the  depot.  He  was  heartily 
welcomed,  and  sat  down  to  breakfast  shortly 
thereafter  in  the  private  parlor  in  company  with 
the  President-elect  and  Washburne.  At  table 
a  general  view  of  the  political  horizon  was  taken, 
and  the  necessities  of  the  hour  canvassed. 

Later  in  the  day  the  members  of  the  "Peace 
Conference"  visited  Lincoln  and  were  presented 
to  him.  One  of  them,  L.  E.  Chittenden,  relates 
that  Lincoln  had  an  apt  word  for  each  of  them 
and  that  he  committed  no  mistake  at  all ;  that  he 
answered  every  Union  man  in  words  of  cheer  and 
encouragement  and  every  Secessionist  according 
to  his  folly.  Mr.  Chittenden  says  of  the  incom- 
ing President :  "He  was  able  to  take  care  of  him- 
self. He  could  not  have  appeared  more  natural 
or  unstudied  in  his  manner  if  he  had  been  enter- 
taining a  company  of  neighbors  in  his  Western 
home." 

On  the  ensuing  eight  days  Lincoln  was  occu- 
pied in  receiving  calls  from  party  leaders,  holding 
consultations  on  the  subject  of  his  Cabinet,  not  yet 
definitely  settled,  and  other  matters  of  policy  in 
connection  with  the  mighty  trust  underlined  for 
him  on  the  programme  of  history. 

Among  other  privileges  which  he  availed  him- 
self of  was  the  making  of  a  visit  to  the  Capitol, 
which  he  had  not  seen  since  the  summer  of  1849, 
when  he  made  a  hurried  visit  to  Washington  to 
see  President  Taylor.  Since  then  the  plain  and 
sombre  hall  of  the  Lower  House  had  been  con- 
verted into  a  gallery  for  statuary,  and  the  Senate 
had  left  its  original  hall,  so  rich  with  classical 


3°8  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

memories.  Both  deliberative  bodies  now  sat 
in  gaudy  chambers  indicative  of  the  change  from 
the  sober  days  of  stagecoach  simplicity.  Here 
the  President-elect  was  received  with  enthusiasm 
by  the  loyal  members  and  with  cold  disdain  and 
supercilious  curiosity  by  the  others.  Disguise  it 
as  we  may,  the  Southern  cause  was  more  popular 
in  Washington  than  the  cause  of  the  Union,  and 
Lincoln  and  his  forthcoming  administration  were 
reviled  generally  in  Washington  society. 

Meanwhile  the  city  was  rapidly  filling  up  with 
strangers,  some  animated  by  the  patriotic  desire 
to  see  the  menaced  President-elect  safely  installed 
in  the  White  House,  some  dominated  by  idle 
curiosity;  but  the  majority,  probably,  moved  by  a 
selfish  desire  to  serve  their  country  in  some  official 
capacity. 

Caleb  Smith  and  John  P.  Usher  were  then  at 
the  head  of  an  immense  colony  of  patriots  bent 
on  expelling  the  occupants  of  the  Interior  Depart- 
ment and  rescuing  that  temple  of  prolific  spoils 
from  the  dominion  of  the  enemy.  The  ponderous 
and  urbane  David  Davis,  Judge  of  the  Eighth 
Illinois  Circuit,  had  engaged  the  most  expensive 
suite  of  rooms  at  Willard's  on  the  second  story, 
corner  of  the  Avenue  and  Fourteenth  Street,  four 
apartments  distant  from  the  President-elect,  so 
that  he  might  be  in  a  comfortable  place  to  re- 
spond to  the  invitation,  which  never  came,  to  ad- 
vise as  to  the  early  appointments. 

Corydon  Beckwith,  the  suave  and  distinguished 
Democratic  lawyer  from  Chicago,  with  his  wife, 
occupied  the  next  suite,  his  undisguised  object  be- 
ing to  secure  the  promotion  of  his  brother,  then 
already  high  in  the  Commissary  Department. 
Big  men  and  extremely  small  men  were  there, 


INAUGURATION  AS  PRESIDENT        3°9 

with  small  and  great  schemes.  Most  of  them  had 
a  maximum  appointment  in  view  or  in  incubation, 
but  were  willing  to  take  something  considerably 
less.  Judd  was  there,  like  Joey  Bagstock,  "sly, 
sir; — de-vil-ish  sly."  His  name  was  on  every 
office-hunter's  lips.  "Where's  Judd?"  "I'll  see 
Judd."  "Ask  Judd."  "Oh,  I  know  Judd." 
"There  goes  Judd."  "Judd !"  "Judd ! ! !"  "Judd 
goes  pop  into  the  Cabinet."  "What  did  Judd  say 
about  it?"  "Judd  looks  used  up."  "Judd'll  do 
it."  "Judd  won't  do  it."  "That's  just  like  Judd." 
"Judd's  pretty  smart,"  etc.  Davis  vainly  at- 
tempted alternately  to  look  big  with  importance 
and  anon  to  appear  like  a  "  looker  on  in  Vienna," 
but  it  was  no  go ;  he  had  one  of  his  eyes  on  any 
portfolio  and  the  other  on  the  comfortable  chair 
in  the  Supreme  Courtroom,  then  draped  in  fu- 
nereal crape.  But  no  message  came  from  the 
throneroom,  so  near  and  yet  so  far,  to  point  the 
way  he  was  to  go. 

Mr.  Lincoln  had  written  his  Inaugural  in  Jan- 
uary, in  an  unused  back  room  in  the  same  build- 
ing as  his  office,  with  no  adventitious  aid  beyond 
an  old  desk,  one  chair,  a  bottle  of  ink,  a  steel  pen, 
a  volume  of  Clay's  speeches,  one  of  Webster's, 
Jackson's  Nullification  Proclamation,  and  the 
Statutes  of  Illinois,  which  contained  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States.  In  this  primitive  situ- 
ation, he  prepared  his  first  official  utterance  on 
plain  foolscap  paper,  carrying  it  home  at  night 
as  it  progressed,  and  amending  it.  He  finally  en- 
grossed it,  and  when  he  started  to  Washington, 
designing  that  it  should  not  be  out  of  his  reach 
during  the  journey,  he  committed  it  to  the  cus- 
tody of  the  same  old  carpetbag  he  and  I  had 
started  East  with  but  eleven  days  before.    When 


3i°  LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

he  looked  for  it  at  Harrisburg,  however,  lo!  it 
was  gone !  It  contained  not  only  his  Inaugural 
address  but  a  large  bundle  of  letters  and  other 
papers  of  indispensable  utility  at  this  supreme 
moment.  Here  was  a  mess !  The  day  of  Fate 
was  in  plain  sight,  advancing  resistlessly  with 
rapid  strides,  and  here  was  this  vital  document, 
the  product  of  so  many  free  and  unexcited  hours, 
out  of  place.  And  letters,  too  ! — letters  whose  ex- 
hibition might  turn  the  world  of  politics  upside 
down — besides  other  almost  indispensable  and 
unduplicated  documents.  Perplexed  almost  be- 
yond endurance  by  the  several  alarming  exigen- 
cies which  pressed  upon  him,  he  privately,  and 
without  disclosing  his  anxiety  to  any  but  his  son 
Robert,  searched  everywhere.  Finally  the  delin- 
quent satchel  turned  up  in  the  general  baggage 
room  at  the  depot,  in  a  pile  of  valises,  the  least 
tempting  of  them  all  to  a  thief,  but  containing  one 
of  the  great  treasures  of  political  literature. 

Lincoln  read  the  Inaugural  to  Seward  and  one 
or  two  others,  and  to  no  more.  Seward  proposed 
some  minor  changes,  which  were  adopted,  and 
this  document,  destined  to  a  classical  renown  and 
an  imperishable  fame,  was  ready  for  submission 
to  the  tribunal  of  history. 

The  Fourth  of  March  arrived,  bringing  in  its 
train  a  bright,  sunny  day,  as  if  Nature  had  en- 
robed itself  in  spring  attire  in  honor  of  the  re- 
naissance of  loyalty  to  the  Union.  At  1 1  :o5 
a.  m.  Messrs.  Foote  and  Pearce,  the  Senate 
Committee,  called  at  the  President's  room  at  the 
Capitol  and  escorted  the  venerable  outgoing  in- 
cumbent to  a  barouche  in  waiting,  drawn  by  six 
horses.  Driving  rapidly  to  Willard's,  they  took 
in  the  President-elect,  who,  calm  and  imperturb- 


IN  A  UGURA  TION  AS  PRESIDENT        3 *  * 

able,  was  waiting,  arrayed  in  his  new  Inaugura- 
tion suit,  with  a  new  spick-and-span  hat,  and  a 
gold-headed  cane  which  some  admirer  had  pre- 
sented to  him,  and  which,  apparently,  he  had  not 
learned  to  handle.  A  procession  was  formed  con- 
sisting of  military  and  civic  societies,  and  a  long 
line  of  carriages  filled  with  Government  digni- 
taries, which  moved  in  stately  and  dignified  pro- 
cession through  the  Avenue  to  the  Capitol.  The 
carriage  which  contained  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
flanked  on  both  sides  by  military  veterans  heavily 
armed.  Arriving  at  the  Capitol,  the  President- 
elect was  escorted  to  the  platform  which  had  been 
erected  upon  the  Eastern  flight  of  steps.  Here, 
in  the  presence  of  an  immense  concourse  of  peo- 
ple and  attended  by  the  chief  dignitaries  of  the 
Nation,  in  a  clear,  emphatic  voice  and  a  resolute 
and  impressive  manner,  and  with  an  air  and  mien 
of  perfect  self-reliance  and  self-possession,  he  de- 
livered the  Inaugural  Address. 

After  Mr.  Lincoln  had  concluded  the  reading 
of  the  address,  the  venerable  Chief  Justice  admin- 
istered the  oath,  which  Mr.  Lincoln  received  sol- 
emnly and  with  emotion.  The  Chief  Justice  ven- 
tured to  bestow  his  benisons,  the  venerable  ex- 
President  offered  his  congratulations  heartily, 
and  the  change  of  administration  was  accom- 
plished— the  renaissance  was  begun.  "Old  things 
had  passed  away,  all  things  had  become  new." 

Mr.  Lincoln  reentered  the  barouche,  the  ex- 
President  followed ;  the  carriage  was  driven  rap- 
idly to  the  door  of  the  White  House,  the  moss- 
troopers clattering  alongside  with  clinking 
sabres.  The  President  alighted,  sought  Mrs. 
Lincoln,  who  had  preceded  him  and  who  now 
beamed  upon  him.    The  family  and  two  or  three 


312  'LINCOLN  THE  CITIZEN 

relatives  sat  together  at  luncheon,  Mrs.  Lincoln 
perfectly  radiant  with  happiness.  The  President 
appeared  relieved.  Tad  and  Willie  were  jubilant. 
Robert  was  dignified. 

The  life  at  the  White  House  was  begun. 


APPENDIXES 

I.  Autobiography 

II.  The  Parents  of  Abraham  Lincoln 
III.  The  "  Lost  Speech"  of  Lincoln 


THE  AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF 
ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


WRITTEN    TO    JESSE    W.     FELL    FOR    USE    IN    THE 
PRESIDENTIAL  CAMPAIGN  OF  i860 

"  In  1859,  as  the  corresponding  secretary  of  the  Re- 
publican State  Central  Committee,  I  traveled  over  the 
State  of  Illinois,  carrying  out  plans  for  a  more  thor- 
ough organization  of  the  Republican  party,  preparatory 
to  the  great  contest  of  i860.  I  visited  a  large  majority 
of  the  counties,  and  nearly  everywhere  had  the  satis- 
faction of  learning  that,  though  many  doubted  the  pos- 
sibility of  nominating  Lincoln,  most  _  generally  it  was 
approved  of.  This  fact  became  in  time  very  apparent 
to  Lincoln  himself,  whom  I  not  infrequently  met  in  my 
travels;  and  in  the  month  of  December  of  that  year, 
feeling  that  perhaps  it  would  '  pay,'  I  induced  him  to 
place  in  my  hands  this  eminently  characteristic  paper." 
— Jesse  W.  Fell. 

I  was  born  Feb.  12,  1809,  in  Hardin  County, 
Kentucky.  My  parents  were  both  born  in  Vir- 
ginia, of  undistinguished  families — second  fami- 
lies, perhaps  I  should  say.  My  mother,  who  died 
in  my  tenth  year,  was  of  a  family  of  the  name  of 
Hanks,  some  of  whom  now  reside  in  Adams,  and 
other  in  Macon  Counties,  Illinois.  My  paternal 
grandfather,  Abraham  Lincoln,  emigrated  from 
Rockingham  County,  Virginia,  to  Kentucky, 
about  1 781  or  2,  where,  a  year  or  two  later,  he 
was  killed  by  Indians,  not  in  battle,  but  by  stealth, 

315 


3i6  APPENDIX  ONE 

when  he  was  laboring  to  open  a  farm  in  the 
forest.  His  ancestors,  who  were  Quakers,  went 
to  Virginia  from  Berks  County,  Pennsylvania. 
An  effort  to  identify  them  with  the  New  England 
family  of  the  same  name  ended  in  nothing  more 
definite  than  a  similarity  of  Christian  names  in 
both  families,  such  as  Enoch,  Levi,  Mordecai, 
Solomon,  Abraham,  and  the  like. 

My  father,  at  the  death  of  his  father,  was  but 
six  years  of  age ;  and  he  grew  up  literally  with- 
out education.  He  removed  from  Kentucky  to 
what  is  now  Spencer  County,  Indiana,  in  my 
eighth  year.  We  reached  our  new  home  about 
the  time  the  State  came  into  the  Union.  It  was 
a  wild  region,  with  many  bears  and  other  wild 
animals  still  in  the  woods.  There  I  grew  up. 
There  were  some  schools,  so  called ;  but  no  quali- 
fication was  ever  required  of  a  teacher  beyond 
"  readhi',  writiri ' ,  and  ciphcrin' "  to  the  Rule  of 
Three.  If  a  straggler  supposed  to  understand 
Latin  happened  to  sojourn  in  the  neighborhood, 
he  was  looked  upon  as  a  wizard.  There  was 
absolutely  nothing  to  excite  ambition  for  educa- 
tion. Of  course,  when  I  came  of  age  I  did  not 
know  much.  Still,  somehow,  I  could  read,  write, 
and  cipher  to  the  Rule  of  Three;  but  that  was 
all.  I  have  not  been  to  school  since.  The 
little  advance  I  now  have  upon  this  store  of  edu- 
cation, I  have  picked  up  from  time  to  time  under 
the  pressure  of  necessity. 

I  was  raised  to  farm  work,  which  I  con- 
tinued till  I  was  twenty-two.  At  twenty-one 
I  came  to  Illinois,  and  passed  the  first  year  in 
Macon  County.  Then  I  got  to  New  Salem,  at 
that  time  in  Sangamon,  now  in  Menard  County; 
where  I  remained  a  year  as  a  sort  of  clerk  in  a 


'AUTOBIOGRAPHY  317 

store.  Then  came  the  Black  Hawk  war;  and  I 
was  elected  a  Captain  of  Volunteers — a  success 
which  gave  me  more  pleasure  than  any  I  have 
had  since.  I  went  [through]  the  campaign,  was 
elated,  ran  for  the  Legislature  the  same  year 
(1832),  and  was  beaten — the  only  time  I  ever 
have  been  beaten  by  the  people.  The  next  and 
three  succeeding  biennial  elections  I  was  elected 
to  the  Legislature.  I  was  not  a  candidate  after- 
wards. During  this  Legislative  period  I  had 
studied  law,  and  removed  to  Springfield  to  prac- 
tice it.  In  1846  I  was  once  elected  to  the  lower 
House  of  Congress.  Was  not  a  candidate  for  re- 
election. From  1849  to  1854,  both  inclusive,  prac- 
ticed law  more  assiduously  than  ever  before. 
Always  a  Whig  in  politics,  and  generally  on  the 
Whig  electoral  tickets,  making  active  canvasses. 
I  was  losing  interest  in  politics  when  the  repeal 
of  the  Missouri  Compromise  aroused  me  again. 
What  I  have  done  since  then  is  pretty  well  known. 
If  any  personal  description  of  me  is  thought 
desirable,  it  may  be  said,  I  am,  in  height,  six  feet 
four  inches,  nearly ;  lean  in  flesh,  weighing  on  an 
average  one  hundred  and  eighty  pounds ;  dark 
complexion,  with  coarse  black  hair,  and  grey  eyes 
— no  other  marks  or  brands  recollected. 


THE   PARENTS   OF    ABRAHAM 
LINCOLN 


IDA    M.    TARBELL 

Among  the  many  wrongs  of  history — and  they 
are  legion — there  is  none  in  our  American  chapter 
at  least  which  is  graver  than  that  which  has  been 
done  the  parents,  and  particularly  the  mother,  of 
Abraham  Lincoln.  Of  course,  I  refer  to  the 
widespread  tradition  that  Lincoln  was  born  of  that 
class  known  in  the  South  as  "poor  whites,"  that 
his  father  was  not  Thomas  Lincoln,  as  his  bi- 
ographers insist  on  declaring,  but  a  rich  and  cul- 
tured planter  of  another  State  than  Kentucky,  and 
that  his  mother  not  only  gave  a  fatherless  boy  to 
the  world,  but  herself  was  a  nameless  child. 
The  tradition  has  always  lacked  particularity. 
For  instance,  there  has  been  large  difference  of 
opinion  about  the  planter  who  fathered  Abraham, 
who  he  was  and  where  he  came  from.  One  story 
calls  him  Enloe,  another  Calhoun,  another  Har- 
din, and  several  different  States  claim  him.  Only 
five  years  ago  a  book  was  published  in  North 
Carolina  to  prove  that  Lincoln's  father  was  a  resi- 
dent of  that  State.  The  bulk  of  the  testimony 
offered  in  this  instance  came  from  men  and 
women  who  had  been  born  long  after  Abraham 
Lincoln,  had  never  seen  him,  and  never  heard 
the  tale  they  repeated  until  long  after  his  election 
to  the  Presidency.  Of  the  truth  of  these  stale- 
st 


320  APPENDIX  TWO 

ments  as  to  Lincoln's  origin  no  proof  has  ever 
been  produced.  They  were  rumors,  diligently 
spread  in  the  first  place  by  those  who  for  political 
purposes  were  glad  to  belittle  a  political  opponent. 
They  grew  with  telling,  and,  curiously  enough, 
two  of  Lincoln's  best  friends  helped  perpetuate 
them — Messrs.  Lamon  and  Herndon — both  of 
whom  wrote  lives  of  the  President  which  are  of 
great  interest  and  value.  But  neither  of  these 
men  was  a  student,  and  they  did  not  take  the 
trouble  to  look  for  records  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  birth. 
They  accepted  rumors  and  enlarged  upon  them. 
Indeed,  it  was  not  until  perhaps  twenty-five  years 
ago  that  the  matter  was  taken  up  seriously  and  an 
investigation  begun.  This  has  been  going  on  at 
intervals  ever  since,  until  I  venture  to  say  that 
few  persons  born  in  a  pioneer  community,  as 
Lincoln  was,  and  as  early  as  1809,  have  their 
lineage  on  both  sides  as  clearly  established  as  that 
of  Abraham  Lincoln.  It  takes,  indeed,  a  most 
amazing  credulity  for  any  one  to  believe  the 
stories  I  have  alluded  to  after  having  looked  at  the 
records  of  his  family.  Lincoln  himself,  backed 
by  the  record  in  the  Lincoln  family  Bible,  is  the 
first  authority  for  the  time  and  place  of  his  birth, 
as  well  as  the  names  of  his  father  and  mother. 
The  father,  Thomas  Lincoln,  far  from  being  a 
"poor  white,"  was  the  son  of  a  prosperous  Ken- 
tucky pioneer,  a  man  of  honorable  and  well- 
established  lineage  who  had  come  from  Virginia 
as  a  friend  of  Daniel  Boone,  and  had  there  bought 
large  tracts  of  land  and  begun  to  grow  up  with 
the  country,  where  he  was  killed  by  the  Indians. 
He  left  a  large  family.  By  the  law  of  Kentucky 
the  estate  went  mainly  to  the  oldest  son,  and  the 
youngest,  Thomas  Lincoln,  was  left  to  shift  for 


PARENTS  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN      321 

himself.  This  youngest  son  grew  to  manhood, 
and  on  June  10,  1806,  was  married,  at  Beechland, 
Ky.,  to  a  young  woman  of  a  family  well  known 
in  the  vicinity,  Nancy  Hanks.  There  is  no  doubt 
whatever  about  the  time  and  the  place  of  their 
marriage.  All  the  legal  documents  required  in 
Kentucky  at  that  period  for  a  marriage  are  in 
existence.  Not  only  have  we  the  bond  and  the 
certificate,  but  the  marriage  is  duly  entered  in  a 
list  of  marriage  returns  made  by  Jesse  Head,  one 
of  the  best-known  early  Methodist  ministers  of 
Kentucky.  It  is  now  to  be  seen  in  the  records  of 
Washington  County,  Kentucky.  There  is  even  in 
existence  a  very  full  and  amusing  account  of  the 
wedding  and  the  infare  which  followed,  by  a 
guest  who  was  present,  and  who  for  years  after 
was  accustomed  to  visit  Thomas  and  Nancy. 
This  guest,  Christopher  Columbus  Graham,  a 
unique  and  perfectly  trustworthy  man,  a  promi- 
nent citizen  of  Louisville,  died  only  a  few  years 
ago. 

But  while  these  documents  dispose  effectually 
of  the  question  of  the  parentage  of  Lincoln,  they 
do  not,  of  course,  clear  up  the  shadow  which 
hangs  over  the  parentage  of  his  mother.  Is  there 
anything  to  show  that  Nancy  Hanks  herself  was 
of  as  clear  and  clean  lineage  as  her  husband? 
There  had  been  nothing  whatever  until,  a  few 
years  ago,  through  the  efforts  of  Mrs.  Caroline 
Hanks  Hitchcock  of  Cambridge,  Mass.,  who  had 
in  preparation  the  genealogy  of  the  Hanks  family 
in  America,  a  little  volume  was  published,  show- 
ing what  she  had  established  in  regard  to  Nancy 
Hanks.  Mrs.  Hitchcock  had  begun  at  the  far  end 
of  the  line — the  arrival  of  one  Benjamin  Hanks  in 
Massachusetts  in  1699. 


322  APPENDIX  TWO 

She  discovered  that  one  of  his  sons,  William, 
moved  to  Virginia,  and  that  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  eighteenth  century  his  children  formed  in 
Amelia  County  of  that  State  a  large  settlement. 
All  the  records  of  these  families  she  found  in  the 
Hall  of  Records  in  Richmond.  When  the  migra- 
tion into  Kentucky  began,  late  in  the  century,  it 
was  joined  by  many  members  of  the  Hanks  set- 
tlement in  Amelia  County.  Among  others  to  go 
was  Joseph  Hanks  with  his  wife,  Nancy  Shipley 
Hanks,  and  their  children.  Mrs.  Hitchcock 
traced  this  Joseph  Hanks,  by  means  of  land 
records,  to  Nelson  County,  Kentucky,  where  she 
found  that  he  died  in  1793,  leaving  behind  a  will, 
which  she  discovered  in  the  records  of  Bards- 
town,  Ky.  This  will  shows  that  at  the  time 
of  his  death  Joseph  Hanks  had  eight  living  chil- 
dren, to  whom  he  bequeathed  property.  The 
youngest  of  these  was  "My  daughter  Nancy,"  as 
the  will  puts  it. 

Mrs.  Hitchcock's  first  query,  on  reading  this 
will,  was :  "Can  it  be  that  this  little  girl — she  was 
but  nine  years  old  when  her  father  died — is  the 
Nancy  Hanks  who  sixteen  years  later  became  the 
mother  of  Abraham  Lincoln  ?"  She  determined  to 
find  out.  She  learned  from  relations  and  friends 
of  the  family  of  Joseph  Hanks  still  living  that, 
soon  after  her  father's  death,  Nancy  went  to  live 
with  an  uncle,  Richard  Berry,  who,  the  records 
showed,  had  come  from  Virginia  to  Kentucky  at 
the  same  time  that  Joseph  Hanks  came.  A  little 
further  research,  and  Mrs.  Hitchcock  found  that 
there  had  been  brought  to  light  through  the  efforts 
of  friends  of  Abraham  Lincoln  all  the  documents 
to  show  that  in  1806  Nancy  Hanks  and  Thomas 
Lincoln  were  married  at  Beechland,  Ky.    Now, 


PARENTS  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN      323 

one  of  these  documents  was  a  marriage  bond. 
It  was  signed  by  Richard  Berry,  the  uncle  of 
the  little  girl  recognized  in  the  will  of  Joseph 
Hanks.  Here,  then,  was  the  chain  complete.  The 
marriage  bond  and  marriage  returns  not  only 
showed  that  Nancy  Hanks  and  Thomas  Lincoln 
were  married  regularly  three  years  before  the 
birth  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  thus  forever  settling 
any  question  as  to  the  parentage  of  Lincoln,  but 
they  showed  that  this  Nancy  Hanks  was  the  one 
named  in  the  will.  The  suspicion  in  regard  to  the 
origin  of  Lincoln's  mother  was  removed  by  this 
discovery  of  the  will,  for  the  recognition  of 
any  one  as  his  child  by  a  man  in  his  will  is  con- 
sidered by  the  law  as  sufficient  proof  of  pater- 
nity. 

Now  what  sort  of  people  were  Thomas  Lincoln 
and  Nancy  Hanks?  It  has  been  inferred  by  those 
who  have  made  no  investigation  of  Thomas  Lin- 
coln's life  that  Nancy  Hanks  made  a  very  poor 
choice  of  a  husband.  The  facts  do  not  entirely 
warrant  this  theory.  Thomas  Lincoln  had  been 
forced  from  his  boyhood  to  shift  for  himself  in  a 
young  and  undeveloped  country.  He  is  known  to 
have  been  a  man  who  in  spite  of  this  wandering 
life  contracted  no  bad  habits.  He  was  temperate 
and  honest,  and  his  name  is  recorded  in  more  than 
one  place  in  the  records  of  Kentucky.  He  was  a 
church-goer,  and,  if  tradition  may  be  believed,  a 
stout  defender  of  his  peculiar  religious  views.  He 
held  advanced  ideas  of  what  was  already  an  im- 
portant public  question  in  Kentucky,  the  right  to 
hold  negroes  as  slaves.  One  of  his  old  friends 
has  said  of  him  and  his  wife,  Nancy  Hanks,  that 
they  were  "just  steeped  full  of  notions  about  the 
wrongs  of  slavery  and  the  rights  of  men,  as  ex~ 


324  'APPENDIX  TWO 

plained  by  Thomas  Jefferson  and  Thomas  Paine." 
These  facts  show  that  he  must  have  been  a  man 
of  some  natural  intelligence.  He  had  a  trade  and 
owned  a  farm. 

As  for  Nancy  Hanks,  less  that  is  definite  is 
known  of  her.  In  nature,  in  education,  and  in 
ambition  she  was,  if  tradition  is  to  be  believed, 
far  above  her  husband.  She  was  famous  for  her 
spinning  and  her  household  accomplishments,  it 
is  said. 

It  was  to  these  two  people,  then,  that  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  bopn  on  February  12,  1809.  His 
birthplace  was  a  farm  Thomas  Lincoln  owned, 
and  near  Elizabeth,  Ky.  The  home  into  which 
the  little  chap  came  was  the  ordinary  one  of 
the  poorer  Western  pioneer — a  one-roomed  cabin 
with  a  huge  outside  chimney.  Although  in  many 
ways  it  was  no  doubt  uncomfortable,  there  is  no 
reason  to  believe  it  was  an  unhappy  or  a  squalid 
one.  The  log  house,  with  its  great  fireplace  and 
heavy  walls,  is  not  such  a  bad  place  to  live  in — 
some  of  us  are  thankful  to  get  away  into  the  coun- 
try to  one  now  and  then  even  in  winter.  Its  furni- 
ture was  simple,  and  no  doubt  much  of  it  home- 
made. The  very  utensils  were  of  home  manu- 
facture. The  feathers  in  the  beds  were  plucked 
from  the  geese  Nancy  Lincoln  raised.  She 
patched  her  own  quilts,  spun  her  own  linsey- 
woolsey.  No  doubt  Thomas  Lincoln  made  Abra- 
ham's cradle  and  Nancy  Lincoln  spun  the  cloth 
for  his  first  garments.  They  raised  their  own 
corn,  dried  their  own  fruit,  hunted  their  own 
game,  raised  their  own  pork  and  beef.  It  was  the 
hard  life  of  the  pioneer  where  every  man  provides 
for  his  own  needs.  It  had  discomforts,  but  it  had, 
too,  that  splendid  independence  and  resourceful- 


PARENTS  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN     325 

ness  which  comes  only  from  being  sufficient  to 
your  own  needs. 

That  the  two  people  who  endured  its  hardships 
and  made  in  spite  of  them  a  home  where  a  boy 
could  conceive  and  nourish  such  ideals  and  en- 
thusiasms as  inspired  Abraham  Lincoln  from  his 
early  years  should  have  their  names  darkened  by 
unfounded  suspicions  is  a  cruel  injustice  against 
which  every  honest  and  patriotic  American  ought 
to  set  his  face. 


THE  "LOST  SPEECH"  OF 
LINCOLN 

"  You  Shall  Not  Go  Out  of  the  Union." 

Speech  Delivered  at  the  First  Republican 
State  Convention  of  Illinois,  Held  at 
Bloomington.    May  29,  1856.* 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen:  I  was  over  at 
[cries  of  "  Platform ! "  "  Take  the  Platform ! "] 
— I  say,  that  while  I  was  at  Danville  Court,  some 
of  our  friends  of  anti-Nebraska  got  together  in 
Springfield  and  elected  me  as  one  delegate  to  rep- 
resent old  Sangamon  with  them  in  this  conven- 
tion, and  I  am  here  certainly  as  a  sympathizer  in 
this  movement  and  by  virtue  of  that  meeting  and 
selection.  But  we  can  hardly  be  called  delegates 
strictly,  inasmuch  as,  properly  speaking,  we  rep- 

*  This  is  the  famous  "  Lost  Speech  "  of  Lincoln  which 
aroused  such  interest  among  the  auditors  that  even  the 
news  reporters  sat  spell-bound,  and  neglected  to  take 
notes.  However,  Henry  C.  Whitney,  a  lawyer  of  Chi- 
cago, who  was  present,  made  long-hand  notes  of  the 
address  (see  pages  261  and  262).  These  notes  he  wrote 
out  in  1896.  According  to  Mr.  Whitney's  claim,  he 
has  followed  the  argument,  and  in  many  cases  repro- 
duced the  very  statements  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  This  re- 
port was  copyrighted  in  1896  by  Sarah  A.  Whitney. 
The  copyright  is  now  owned  by  William  H.  Lambert, 
Esq.,  of  Philadelphia,  from  whom  permission  has  been 
obtained  for  the  present  reproduction  of  the  report. 

327 


328  APPENDIX  THREE 

resent  nobody  but  ourselves.  I  think  it  alto- 
gether fair  to  say  that  we  have  no  anti-Nebraska 
party  in  Sangamon,  although  there  is  a  good  deal 
of  anti-Nebraska  feeling  there ;  but  I  say  for  my- 
self, and  I  think  I  may  speak  also  for  my  col- 
leagues, that  we  who  are  here  fully  approve  of 
the  platform  and  of  all  that  has  been  done  [a 
voice:  "  Yes! "]  ;  and  even  if  we  are  not  regu- 
larly delegates,  it  will  be  right  for  me  to  answer 
your  call  to  speak.  I  suppose  we  truly  stand  for 
the  public  sentiment  of  Sangamon  on  the  great 
question  of  the  repeal,  although  we  do  not  yet 
represent  many  numbers  who  have  taken  a  dis- 
tinct position  on  the  question. 

We  are  in  a  trying  time — it  ranges  above  mere 
party — and  this  movement  to  call  a  halt  and  turn 
our  steps  backward  needs  all  the  help  and  good 
counsels  it  can  get;  for  unless  popular  opinion 
makes  itself  very  strongly  felt,  and  a  change  is 
made  in  our  present  course,  blood  will  How  on 
account  of  Nebraska,  and  brother's  hand  will  be 
raised  against  brother!  * 

I  have  listened  with  great  interest  to  the  ear- 
nest appeal  made  to  Illinois  men  by  the  gentleman 
from  Lawrence  [James  S.  Emery]  who  has  just 
addressed  us  so  eloquently  and  forcibly.  I  was 
deeply  moved  by  his  statement  of  the  wrongs 
done  to  free-State  men  out  there.  I  think  it  just 
to  say  that  all  true  men  North  should  sympathize 
with  them,  and  ought  to  be  willing  to  do  any  pos- 
sible and  needful  thing  to  right  their  wrongs. 

*The  close  of  the  sentence  was  uttered  in  such  an 
earnest,  impressive,  if  not,  indeed,  tragic  manner,  as 
to  make  a  cold  chill  creep  over  me.  Others  gave  a 
similar  experience. — Henry  C.   Whitney. 


THE  "LOST  SPEECH"  329 

But  we  must  not  promise  what  we  ought  not, 
lest  we  be  called  on  to  perform  what  we  cannot ; 
we  must  be  calm  and  moderate,  and  consider  the 
whole  difficulty,  and  determine  what  is  possible 
and  just.  We  must  not  be  led  by  excitement  and 
passion  to  do  that  which  our  sober  judgments 
would  not  approve  in  our  cooler  moments.  We 
have  higher  aims ;  we  will  have  more  serious 
business  than  to  dally  with  temporary  measures. 

We  are  here  to  stand  firmly  for  a  principle — 
to  stand  firmly  for  a  right.  We  know  that  great 
political  and  moral  wrongs  are  done,  and  out- 
rages committed,  and  we  denounce  those  wrongs 
and  outrages,  although  we  cannot,  at  present,  do 
much  more.  But  we  desire  to  reach  out  beyond 
those  personal  outrages  and  establish  a  rule  that 
will  apply  to  all,  and  so  prevent  any  future  out- 
rages. 

We  have  seen  to-day  that  every  shade  of  pop- 
ular opinion  is  represented  here,  with  Freedom 
or  rather  Free-Soil  as  the  basis.  We  have 
come  together  as  in  some  sort  representatives  of 
popular  opinion  against  the  extension  of  slavery 
into  territory  now  free  in  fact  as  well  as  by  law, 
and  the  pledged  word  of  the  statesmen  of  the 
nation  who  are  now  no  more.  We  come — we 
are  here  assembled  together — to  protest  as  well 
as  we  can  against  a  great  wrong,  and  to  take 
measures,  as  well  as  we  now  can,  to  make  that 
wrong  right ;  to  place  the  nation,  as  far  as  it  may 
be  possible  now,  as  it  was  before  the  repeal  of 
the  Missouri  Compromise ;  and  the  plain  way  to 
do  this  is  to  restore  the  Compromise,  and  to  de- 
mand and  determine  that  Kansas  shall  be  free! 
[Immense  applause.]  While  we  affirm,  and  re- 
affirm, if  necessary,  our  devotion  to  the  principles 


330  APPENDIX  THREE 

of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  let  our  prac- 
tical work  here  be  limited  to  the  above.  We  know 
that  there  is  not  a  perfect  agreement  of  senti- 
ment here  on  the  public  questions  which  might  be 
rightfully  considered  in  this  convention,  and  that 
the  indignation  which  we  all  must  feel  cannot  be 
helped ;  but  all  of  us  must  give  up  something  for 
the  good  of  the  cause.  There  is  one  desire  which 
is  uppermost  in  the  mind,  one  wish  common  to 
us  all — to  which  no  dissent  will  be  made;  and  I 
counsel  you  earnestly  to  bury  all  resentment,  to 
sink  all  personal  feeling,  make  all  things  work  to 
a  common  purpose  in  which  we  are  united  and 
agreed  about,  and  which  all  present  will  agree 
is  absolutely  necessary — which  must  be  done  by 
any  rightful  mode  if  there  be  such :  Slavery  must 
be  kept  out  of  Kansas!  [Applause.]  The  test — 
the  pinch — is  right  there.  If  we  lose  Kansas  to 
freedom,  an  example  will  be  set  which  will  prove 
fatal  to  freedom  in  the  end.  We,  therefore,  in 
the  language  of  the  Bible,  must  "  lay  the  axe  to 
the  root  of  the  tree."  Temporizing  will  not  do 
longer;  now  is  the  time  for  decision — for  firm, 
persistent,  resolute  action.     [Applause.'] 

The  Nebraska  bill,  or  rather  Nebraska  law,  is 
not  one  of  wholesome  legislation,  but  was  and  is 
an  act  of  legislative  usurpation,  whose  result,  if 
not  indeed  intention,  is  to  make  slavery  national ; 
and  unless  headed  off  in  some  effective  way,  we 
are  in  a  fair  way  to  see  this  land  of  boasted  free- 
dom converted  into  a  land  of  slavery  in  fact. 
[Sensation.]  Just  open  your  two  eyes,  and  see 
if  this  be  not  so.  I  need  do  no  more  than  state, 
to  command  universal  approval,  that  almost  the 
entire  North,  as  well  as  a  large  following  in  the 
border  States,  is  radically  opposed  to  the  planting 


THE  "  LOST  SPEECH  "  33 1 

of  slavery  in  free  territory.  Probably  in  a  popu- 
lar vote  throughout  the  nation  nine-tenths  of  the 
voters  in  the  free  States,  and  at  least  one-half  in 
the  border  States,  if  they  could  express  their 
sentiments  freely,  would  vote  NO  on  such  an 
issue ;  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  two-thirds  of  the 
votes  of  the  entire  nation  would  be  opposed  to  it. 
And  yet,  in  spite  of  this  overbalancing  of  senti- 
ment in  this  free  country,  we  are  in  a  fair  way  to 
see  Kansas  present  itself  for  admission  as  a  slave 
State.  Indeed,  it  is  a  felony,  by  the  local  law  of 
Kansas,  to  deny  that  slavery  exists  there  even 
now.  By  every  principle  of  law,  a  negro  in  Kan- 
sas is  free ;  yet  the  bogus  legislature  makes  it  an 
infamous  crime  to  tell  him  that  he  is  free.* 

The  party  lash  and  the  fear  of  ridicule  will 
overawe  justice  and  liberty;  for  it  is  a  singular 
fact,  but  none  the  less  a  fact,  and  well  known  by 
the  most  common  experience,  that  men  will  do 
things  under  the  terror  of  the  party  lash  that 
they  would  not  on  any  account  or  for  any  con- 
sideration  do   otherwise;   while   men   who   will 


♦Statutes  of  Kansas,  1855,  Chapter  151,  Sec.  12.  If 
any  free  person,  by  speaking  or  by  writing,  assert  or 
maintain  that  persons  have  not  the  right  to  hold  slaves 
in  this  Territory,  or  shall  introduce  into  this  Territory, 
print,  publish,  write,  circulate  .  .  .  any  book,  paper, 
magazine,  pamphlet,  or  circular  containing  any  denial 
of  the  right  of  persons  to  hold  slaves  in  this  Territory, 
such  person  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  felony  and  pun- 
ished by  imprisonment  at  hard  labor  for  a  term  of  not 
less  than  two  years. 

Sec.  13.  No  person  who  is  conscientiously  opposed  to 
holding  slaves,  or  who  does  not  admit  the  right  to  hold 
slaves  in  this  Territory,  shall  sit  as  a  juror  on  the  trial 
of  any  prosecution  for  any  violation  of  any  sections  of 
this  Act. 


332  APPENDIX  THREE 

march  up  to  the  mouth  of  a  loaded  cannon  with- 
out shrinking,  will  run  from  the  terrible  name  of 
"Abolitionist,"  even  when  pronounced  by  a 
worthless  creature  whom  they,  with  good  reason, 
despise.  For  instance — to  press  this  point  a  little 
— Judge  Douglas  introduced  his  anti-Nebraska 
bill  in  January;  we  had  an  extra  session  of  our 
Illinois  Legislature  in  the  succeeding  February, 
in  which  were  seventy-five  Democrats;  and  at  a 
party  caucus,  fully  attended,  there  were  just  three 
votes  out  of  the  whole  seventy-five,  for  the  meas- 
ure. But  in  a  few  days  orders  came  on  from 
Washington,  commanding  them  to  approve  the 
measure ;  the  party  lash  was  applied,  and  it  was 
brought  up  again  in  caucus,  and  passed  by  a 
large  majority.  The  masses  were  against  it,  but 
party  necessity  carried  it;  and  it  was  passed 
through  the  lower  house  of  Congress  against  the 
will  of  the  people,  for  the  same  reason.  Here  is 
where  the  greatest  danger  lies — that,  while  we 
profess  to  be  a  government  of  law  and  reason, 
law  will  give  way  to  violence  on  demand  of  this 
awful  and  crushing  power.  Like  the  Juggernaut, 
the  great  Hindu  idol,  it  crushes  everything  that 
comes  in  its  way,  and  transforms  a  man  into  a 
chattel,  for,  as  I  read  once,  in  a  blackletter  law 
book,  "  a  slave  is  a  human  being  who  is  legally 
not  a  person  but  a  thing."  And  if  the  safeguards 
to  liberty  are  broken  down,  as  is  now  attempted, 
when  they  have  made  things  of  all  the  free  ne- 
groes, how  long,  think  you,  before  they  will  be- 
gin to  make  things  of  poor  white  men?  [Ap- 
plause.] Be  not  deceived.  Revolutions  do  not 
go  backward.  The  founder  of  the  Democratic 
party  declared  that  all  men  were  created  equal. 
His  successor  in  the  leadership  has  written  the 


THE  "LOST  SPEECH" 


333 


word  "  white  "  before  men,  making  it  read  "  all 
white  men  are  created  equal."  Pray,  will  or  may 
not  the  Know-nothings,  if  they  should  get  in 
power,  add  the  word  "  Protestant,"  making  it 
read  "all  Protestant  white  men"? 

Meanwhile  the  hapless  negro  is  the  fruitful 
subject  of  reprisals  in  other  quarters.  John  Pet- 
tit,  whom  Tom  Benton  paid  his  respects  to,  you 
will  recollect,  calls  the  immortal  Declaration  "  a 
self-evident  lie  " ;  while  at  the  birthplace  of  free- 
dom— in  the  shadow  of  Bunker  Hill  and  of  the 
"  cradle  of  liberty,"  at  the  home  of  the  Adamses 
and  Warren  and  Otis — Rufus  Choate,  from  our 
side  of  the  house,  dares  to  fritter  away  the  birth- 
day promise  of  liberty  by  proclaiming  the  Decla- 
ration to  be  a  "  string  of  glittering  generalities  " ; 
and  the  Southern  Whigs,  working  hand  in  hand 
with  pro-slavery  Democrats,  are  making  Choate's 
theories  practical.  Thomas  Jefferson,  a  slave- 
holder, mindful  of  the  moral  element  in  slavery, 
solemnly  declared  that  he  "  trembled  for  his  coun- 
try when  he  remembered  that  God  is  just  " ;  while 
Judge  Douglas,  with  an  insignificant  wave  of  the 
hand,  "  doesn't  care  whether  slavery  is  voted  up 
or  voted  down."  Now,  if  slavery  is  right,  or 
even  negative,  he  has  a  right  to  treat  it  in  this 
trifling  manner.  But  if  it  is  a  moral  and  political 
wrong,  as  all  Christendom  considers  it  to  be,  how 
can  he  answer  to  God  for  this  attempt  to  spread 
and  fortify  it?     [Applause.] 

But  no  man,  and  Judge  Douglas  no  more  than 
any  other,  can  maintain  a  negative,  or  merely 
neutral,  position  on  this  question;  and,  accord- 
ingly, he  avows  that  the  Union  was  made  by 
white  men  and  for  white  men  and  their  descend- 
ants.   As  matter  of  fact,  the  first  branch  of  the 


334 


APPENDIX  THREE 


proposition  is  historically  true;  the  government 
was  made  by  white  men,  and  they  were  and  are 
the  superior  race.  This  I  admit.  But  the  corner- 
stone of  the  government,  so  to  speak,  was  the 
declaration  that  "  all  men  are  created  equal,"  and 
all  entitled  to  "  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of 
happiness."     [Applause.] 

And  not  only  so,  but  the  framers  of  the  Consti- 
tution were  particular  to  keep  out  of  that  instru- 
ment the  word  "  slave,"  the  reason  being  that 
slavery  would  ultimately  come  to  an  end,  and 
they  did  not  wish  to  have  any  reminder  that  in 
this  free  country  human  beings  were  ever  prosti- 
tuted to  slavery.  [Applause.]  Nor  is  it  any  ar- 
gument that  we  are  superior  and  the  negro  in- 
ferior— that  he  has  but  one  talent  while  we  have 
ten.  Let  the  negro  possess  the  little  he  has  in 
independence ;  if  he  has  but  one  talent,  he  should 
be  permitted  to  keep  the  little  he  has.  [Ap- 
plause.] But  slavery  will  endure  no  test  of  rea- 
son or  logic ;  and  yet  its  advocates,  like  Douglas, 
use  a  sort  of  bastard  logic,  or  noisy  assumption, 
it  might  be  better  termed,  like  the  above,  in  order 
to  prepare  the  mind  for  the  gradual,  but  none 
the  less  certain,  encroachments  of  the  Moloch  of 
slavery  upon  the  fair  domain  of  freedom.  But 
however  much  you  may  argue  upon  it,  or  smother 
it  in  soft  phrase,  slavery  can  be  maintained  only 
by  force — by  violence.  The  repeal  of  the  Mis- 
souri Compromise  was  by  violence.  It  was  a 
violation  of  both  law  and  the  sacred  obligations 
of  honor,  to  overthrow  and  trample  underfoot  a 
solemn  compromise,  obtained  by  the  fearful  loss 
to  freedom  of  one  of  the  fairest  of  our  Western 
domains.  Congress  violated  the  will  and  confi- 
dence of  its  constituents  in  voting  for  the  bill; 


THE  "LOST  SPEECH"  335 

and  while  public  sentiment,  as  shown  by  the  elec- 
tions of  1854,  demanded  the  restoration  of  this 
compromise,  Congress  violated  its  trust  by  refus- 
ing, simply  because  it  had  the  force  of  numbers, 
to  hold  on  to  it.  And  murderous  violence  is  being 
used  now,  in  order  to  force  slavery  upon  Kansas  ; 
for  it  can  be  done  in  no  other  way.    [Sensation.] 

The  necessary  result  was  to  establish  the  rule 
of  violence — force — instead  of  the  rule  of  law  and 
reason ;  to  perpetuate  and  spread  slavery,  and,  in 
time,  to  make  it  general.  We  see  it  at  both  ends 
of  the  line.  In  Washington,  on  the  very  spot  where 
the  outrage  was  started,  the  fearless  Sumner  was 
beaten  to  insensibility,  and  is  now  slowly  dying; 
while  senators  who  claim  to  be  gentlemen  and 
Christians  stood  by,  countenancing  the  act,  and 
even  applauding  it  afterward  in  their  places  in 
the  Senate.  Even  Douglas,  our  man,  saw  it  all 
and  was  within  helping  distance,  yet  let  the  mur- 
derous blows  fall  unopposed.  Then,  at  the  other 
end  of  the  line,  at  the  very  time  Sumner  the 
man  was  being  murdered,  the  city  of  Lawrence 
was  being  destroyed  for  the  crime  of  Freedom. 
It  was  the  most  prominent  stronghold  of  liberty 
in  Kansas,  and  must  give  way  to  the  all- 
dominating  power  of  slavery.  Only  two  days 
ago,  Judge  Trumbull  found  it  necessary  to  pro- 
pose a  bill  in  the  Senate  to  prevent  a  general 
civil  war  and  to  restore  peace  in  Kansas. 

We  live  in  the  midst  of  alarms ;  anxiety  be- 
clouds the  future;  we  expect  some  new  disaster 
with  each  newspaper  we  read.  Are  we  in  a 
healthful  political  state?  Are  not  the  tendencies 
plain?  Do  not  the  signs  of  the  times  point 
plainly  the  way  in  which  we  are  going?  [Sen- 
sation.] 


336  APPENDIX  THREE 

In  the  early  days  of  the  Constitution  slavery 
was  recognized,  by  South  and  North  alike,  as 
an  evil,  and  the  division  of  sentiment  about  it 
was  not  controlled  by  geographical  lines  or  con- 
siderations of  climate,  but  by  moral  and  philan- 
thropic views.  Petitions  for  the  abolition  of 
slavery  were  presented  to  the  very  first  Congress 
by  Virginia  and  Massachusetts  alike.  To  show 
the  harmony  which  prevailed,  I  will  state  that  a 
fugitive  slave  law  was  passed  in  1793,  with  no 
dissenting  voice  in  the  Senate,  and  but  seven  dis- 
senting votes  in  the  House.  It  was,  however,  a 
wise  law,  a  moderate,  and,  under  the  Constitu- 
tion, a  just  one.  Twenty-five  years  later,  a  more 
stringent  law  was  proposed  and  defeated;  and 
thirty-five  years  after  that,  the  present  law, 
drafted  by  Mason,  of  Virginia,  was  passed  by 
Northern  votes.  I  am  not,  just  now,  complaining 
of  this  law,  but  I  am  trying  to  show  how  the 
current  sets;  for  the  proposed  law  of  1817  was 
far  less  offensive  than  the  present  one.  In  1774 
the  Continental  Congress  pledged  itself,  without 
a  dissenting  vote,  wholly  to  discontinue  the  slave 
trade,  and  neither  to  purchase  nor  import  any 
slave ;  and  less  than  three  months  before  the  pas- 
sage of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the 
same  Congress  which  adopted  that  declaration 
unanimously  resolved  "  that  no  slave  be  imported 
into  any  of  the  thirteen  United  Colonies."  [Great 
applause.] 

On  the  second  day  of  July,  1776,  a  draft  of  a 
Declaration  of  Independence  was  reported  to 
Congress  by  the  committee,  and  in  it  the  slave 
trade  was  characterized  as  "  an  execrable  com- 
merce," as  "  a  practical  warfare,"  as  the  "  oppro- 
brium of  infidel  powers,"  and  as  "  a  cruel  war 


THE  "LOST  SPEECH"  337 

against  human  nature."  [Applause.]  All  agreed 
on  this  except  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  and 
in  order  to  preserve  harmony,  and  from  the 
necessity  of  the  case,  these  expressions  were 
omitted.  Indeed,  abolition  societies  existed  as 
far  south  as  Virginia ;  and  it  is  a  well-known 
fact  that  Washington,  Jefferson,  Madison,  Lee, 
Henry,  Mason,  and  Pendleton  were  qualified  abo- 
litionists, and  much  more  radical  on  that  subject 
than  we  of  the  Whig  and  Democratic  parties 
claim  to  be  to-day.  On  March  1,  1784,  Virginia 
ceded  to  the  Confederation  all  its  lands  lying 
northwest  of  the  Ohio  River.  Jefferson  of  Vir- 
ginia, Chase  of  Maryland,  and  Howell  of  Rhode 
Island,  as  a  congressional  committee  on  territory 
thereafter  to  be  ceded,  reported  that  no  slavery 
should  exist  therein  after  the  year  1800.  Had 
this  report  been  adopted,  not  only  the  Northwest, 
but  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Alabama,  and  Mississ- 
ippi also  would  have  been  free.  But  the  report 
failed  to  secure  the  assent  of  nine  States  that 
was  necessary  to  ratify  it.  North  Carolina  was 
divided ;  and  thus  its  vote  was  lost ;  and  Dela- 
ware, Georgia,  and  New  Jersey  refused  to 
vote.  However,  as  it  was,  the  report  was 
assented  to  by  six  States.  Three  years  later, 
on  a  square  vote  to  exclude  slavery  from 
the  Northwest,  only  one  vote,  and  that  from 
New  York,  was  against  it.  And  yet,  thirty-seven 
years  later,  five  thousand  citizens  of  Illinois  out 
of  a  voting  mass  of  less  than  twelve  thousand, 
deliberately,  after  a  long  and  heated  contest, 
voted  to  introduce  slavery  in  Illinois ;  and,  to- 
day, a  large  party  in  the  free  State  of  Illinois  are 
willing  to  vote  to  fasten  the  shackles  of  slavery 
on  the  fair  domain  of  Kansas,  notwithstanding  it 


338  APPENDIX  THREE 

received  the  dowry  of  freedom  long  before  its 
birth  as  a  political  community.  I  repeat,  there- 
fore the  question:  Is  it  not  plain  in  what  direc- 
tion we  are  tending?  [Sensation.']  In  the  colo- 
nial time,  Mason,  Pendleton,  and  Jefferson  were 
as  hostile  to  slavery  in  Virginia  as  Otis,  Ames, 
and  the  Adamses  were  in  Massachusetts ;  and 
Virginia  made  as  earnest  an  effort  to  get  rid  of  it 
as  old  Massachusetts  did.  But  circumstances  were 
against  them  and  they  failed;  but  not  that  the 
good  will  of  its  leading  men  was  lacking.  Yet 
within  less  than  fifty  years  Virginia  changed  its 
tune,  and  made  negro-breeding  for  the  cotton 
and  sugar  States  one  of  its  leading  industries. 
[Laughter  and  applause.] 

In  the  Constitutional  Convention,  George  Ma- 
son of  Virginia  made  a  more  violent  abolition 
speech  than  my  friends  Love  joy  or  Codding 
would  desire  to  make  here  to-day — a  speech 
which  could  not  be  safely  repeated  anywhere  on 
Southern  soil  in  this  enlightened  year.  But  while 
there  were  some  differences  of  opinion  on  this 
subject  even  then,  discussion  was  allowed;  but 
as  you  see  by  the  Kansas  slave  code,  which,  as 
you  know,  is  the  Missouri  slave  code  merely 
ferried  across  the  river,  it  is  a  felony  even  to  ex- 
press an  opinion  hostile  to  that  foul  blot  in  the 
land  of  Washington  and  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence.    [Sensation.] 

In  Kentucky — my  native  State — in  1849,  on  a 
test  vote,  the  mighty  influence  of  Henry  Clay  and 
many  other  good  men  there  could  not  get  a 
symptom  of  expression  in  favor  of  gradual 
emancipation  on  a  plain  issue  of  marching  toward 
the  light  of  civilization  with  Ohio  and  Illinois; 
but  the  State  of  Boone  and  Hardin  and  Henry 


THE  "LOST  SPEECH"  339 

Clay,  with  a  nigger  under  each  arm,  took  the 
back  trail  to  the  deadly  swamps  of  barbarism. 
Is  there — can  there  be — any  doubt  about  this 
thing?  And  is  there  any  doubt  that  we  must  all 
lay  aside  our  prejudices  and  march,  shoulder  to 
shoulder,  in  the  great  army  of  Freedom?  [Ap- 
plause.] 

Every  Fourth  of  July  our  young  orators  all 
proclaim  this  to  be  "  the  land  of  the  free  and  the 
home  of  the  brave !  "  Well,  now,  when  you  ora- 
tors get  that  off  next  year,  and,  may  be,  this 
very  year,  how  would  you  like  some  old  grizzled 
farmer  to  get  up  in  the  grove  and  deny  it? 
[Laughter.]  How  would  you  like  that?  But 
suppose  Kansas  comes  in  as  a  slave  State,  and  all 
the  "  border  ruffians  "  have  barbecues  about  it, 
and  free-State  men  come  trailing  back  to  the  dis- 
honored North,  like  whipped  dogs  with  their  tails 
between  their  legs,  is  it  not  evident  that  this 
is  no  more  the  "  land  of  the  free  "  ?  and  if  we 
let  it  go  so,  we  won't  dare  to  say  "  home  of  the 
brave  "  out  loud.     [Sensation  and  confusion.'] 

Can  any  man  doubt  that,  even  in  spite  of  the 
people's  will,  slavery  will  triumph  through  vio- 
lence, unless  that  will  be  made  manifest  and  en- 
forced? Even  Governor  Reeder  claimed  at  the 
outset  that  the  contest  in  Kansas  was  to  be  fair, 
but  he  got  his  eyes  open  at  last;  and  I  believe 
that,  as  a  result  of  this  moral  and  physical  vio- 
lence, Kansas  will  soon  apply  for  admission  as  a 
slave  State.  And  yet  we  can't  mistake  that  the 
people  don't  want  it  so,  and  that  it  is  a  land  which 
is  free  both  by  natural  and  political  law.  No  lam 
is  free  law!  Such  is  the  understanding  of  all 
Christendom.  In  the  Somerset  case,  decided 
nearly  a  century  ago,  the  great  Lord  Mansfield 


«J^ 


do  APPENDIX  THREE 


held  that  slavery  was  of  such  a  nature  that  it 
must  take  its  rise  in  positive  (as  distinguished 
from  natural)  law  ;  and  that  in  no  country  or  age 
could  it  be  traced  back  to  any  other  source.  Will 
some  one  please  tell  me  where  is  the  positive  law 
that  established  slavery  in  Kansas?  [A  voice: 
"  The  bogus  laws."}  Aye,  the  bogus  laws!  And, 
on  the  same  principle,  a  gang  of  Missouri  horse- 
thieves  could  come  into  Illinois  and  declare  horse- 
stealing to  be  legal  [Laughter],  and  it  would  be 
just  as  legal  as  slavery  is  in  Kansas.  But  by  ex- 
press statute,  in  the  land  of  Washington  and  Jef- 
ferson, we  may  soon  be  brought  face  to  face  with 
the  discreditable  fact  of  showing  to  the  world  by 
our  acts  that  we  prefer  slavery  to  freedom — 
darkness  to  light!     [Sensation.'] 

It  is,  I  believe,  a  principle  in  law  that  when  one 
party  to  a  contract  violates  it  so  grossly  as  chiefly 
to  destroy  the  object  for  which  it  is  made,  the 
other  party  may  rescind  it.  I  will  ask  Brown- 
ing if  that  ain't  good  law.  [Voices:  "Yes!"] 
Well,  now,  if  that  be  right,  I  go  for  rescinding 
the  whole,  entire  Missouri  Compromise  and  thus 
turning  Missouri  into  a  free  State ;  and  I  should 
like  to  know  the  difference — should  like  for  any 
one  to  point  out  the  difference — between  our 
making  a  free  State  of  Missouri  and  their  mak- 
ing a  slave  State  of  Kansas.  [Great  applause.] 
There  ain't  one  bit  of  difference,  except  that  our 
way  would  be  a  great  mercy  to  humanity.  But  I 
have  never  said,  and  the  Whig  party  has  never 
said,  and  those  who  oppose  the  Nebraska  bill 
do  not  as  a  body  say,  that  they  have  any  inten- 
tion of  interfering  with  slavery  in  the  slave 
States.  Our  platform  says  just  the  contrary. 
We  allow  slavery  to  exist  in  the  slave  States, — 


THE  "LOST  SPEECH"  341 

not  because  slavery  is  right  or  good,  but  from  the 
necessities  of  our  Union.  We  grant  a  fugitive- 
slave  law  because  it  is  so  "  nominated  in  the 
bond  " ;  because  our  fathers  so  stipulated — had  to 
— and  we  are  bound  to  carry  out  this  agreement. 
But  they  did  not  agree  to  introduce  slavery  in 
regions  where  it  did  not  previously  exist.  On  the 
contrary,  they  said  by  their  example  and  teach- 
ings that  they  did  not  deem  it  expedient — did  not 
consider  it  right — to  do  so;  and  it  is  wise  and 
right  to  do  just  as  they  did  about  it  [Voices: 
"Good!"],  and  that  is  what  we  propose:  not  to 
interfere  with  slavery  where  it  exists  (we  have 
never  tried  to  do  it),  and  to  give  them  a  reason- 
able and  efficient  fugitive-slave  law.  [A  voice: 
"No!"]  I  say  YES!  [Applause.]  It  was  part 
of  the  bargain,  and  I'm  for  living  up  to  it;  but  I 
go  no  further !  I'm  not  bound  to  do  more,  and  I 
won't  agree  any  further.     [Great  applause.] 

We  here  in  Illinois  should  feel  especially 
proud  of  the  provision  of  the  Missouri  Compro- 
mise excluding  slavery  from  what  is  now  Kan- 
sas ;  for  an  Illinois  man,  Jesse  B.  Thomas,  was 
its  father.  Henry  Clay,  who  is  credited  with  the 
authorship  of  the  Compromise  in  general  terms, 
did  not  even  vote  for  that  provision,  but  only  ad- 
vocated the  ultimate  admission  by  a  second  com- 
promise ;  and  Thomas  was,  beyond  all  contro- 
versy, the  real  author  of  the  "  slavery  restric- 
tion "  branch  of  the  Compromise.  To  show  the 
generosity  of  the  Northern  members  toward  the 
Southern  side :  on  a  test  vote  to  exclude  slavery 
from  Missouri,  ninety  voted  not  to  exclude,  and 
eighty-seven  to  exclude,  every  vote  from  the  slave 
States  being  ranged  with  the  former  and  fourteen 
votes  from  the  free  States,  of  whom  seven  were 


342  APPENDIX  THREE 

from  New  England  alone ;  while  on  a  vote  to  ex- 
clude slavery  from  what  is  now  Kansas,  the  vote 
was  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  for,  to  forty- 
two  against.  The  scheme,  as  a  whole,  was,  of 
course,  a  Southern  triumph.  It  is  idle  to  contend 
otherwise,  as  is  now  being  done  by  the  Nebras- 
kaites ;  it  was  so  shown  by  the  votes  and  quite  as 
emphatically  by  the  expressions  of  representative 
men.  Mr.  Lowndes  of  South  Carolina  was  never 
known  to  commit  a  political  mistake;  his  was 
the  great  judgment  of  that  section;  and  he  de- 
clared that  this  measure  "  would  restore  tranquil- 
lity to  the  country — a  result  demanded  by  every 
consideration  of  discretion,  of  moderation,  of 
wisdom  and  of  virtue."  When  the  measure  came 
before  President  Monroe  for  his  approval,  he  put 
to  each  member  of  his  cabinet  this  question: 
"  Has  Congress  the  constitutional  power  to  pro- 
hibit slavery  in  a  territory?"  And  John  C.  Cal- 
houn and  William  H.  Crawford  from  the  South, 
equally  with  John  Quincy  Adams,  Benjamin 
Rush,  and  Smith  Thompson  from  the  North, 
alike  answered,  "Yes!"  without  qualification  or 
equivocation ;  and  this  measure,  of  so  great  con- 
sequence to  the  South,  was  passed ;  and  Missouri 
was,  by  means  of  it,  finally  enabled  to  knock  at 
the  door  of  the  Republic  for  an  open  passage  to 
its  brood  of  slaves.  And,  in  spite  of  this,  Free- 
dom's share  is  about  to  be  taken  by  violence — by 
the  force  of  misrepresentative  votes,  not  called 
for  by  the  popular  will.  What  name  can  I,  in 
common  decency,  give  to  this  wicked  transaction  ? 
[Sensation.] 

But  even  then  the  contest  was  not  over;  for 
when  the  Missouri  Constitution  came  before  Con- 
gress for  its  approval,  it  forbade  any  free  negro 


THE  "LOST  SPEECH"  343 

or  mulatto  from  entering  the  State — in  short, 
our  Illinois  "  black  laws  "  were  hidden  away  in 
their  constitution  [laughter] — and  the  contro- 
versy was  thus  revived.  Then  it  was  that  Mr. 
Clay's  talents  shone  out  conspicuously,  and  the 
controversy  that  shook  the  Union  to  its  founda- 
tion was  finally  settled  to  the  satisfaction  of  the 
conservative  parties  on  both  sides  of  the  line, 
though  not  to  the  extremists  on  either,  and  Mis- 
souri was  admitted  by  the  small  majority  of  six 
in  the  lower  House.  How  great  a  majority,  do 
you  think,  would  have  been  given  had  Kansas 
also  been  secured  for  slavery?  [A  voice:  "A 
majority  the  other  way."}  "  A  majority  the 
other  way,"  is  answered.  Do  you  think  it  would 
have  been  safe  for  a  Northern  man  to  confront 
his  constituents  after  voting  to  consign  both  Mis- 
souri and  Kansas  to  hopeless  slavery?  And  yet 
this  man  Douglas,  who  misrepresents  his  con- 
stituents and  who  has  exerted  his  highest  talents 
in  that  direction,  will  be  carried  in  triumph 
through  the  State  and  hailed  with  honor  while 
applauding  that  act.  [Three  groans  for  "  Dug  I  "] 
And  this  shows  whither  we  are  tending.  This 
thing  of  slavery  is  more  powerful  than  its  sup- 
porters— even  than  the  high  priests  that  minister 
at  its  altar.  It  debauches  even  our  greatest  men. 
It  gathers  strength,  like  a  rolling  snowball,  by 
its  own  infamy.  Monstrous  crimes  are  commit- 
ted in  its  name  by  persons  collectively  which  they 
would  not  dare  to  commit  as  individuals.  Its  ag- 
gressions and  encroachments  almost  surpass  be- 
lief. In  a  despotism,  one  might  not  wonder  to 
see  slavery  advance  steadily  and  remorselessly 
into  new  dominions ;  but  is  it  not  wonderful,  is  it 
not  even  alarming,  to  see  its  steady  advance  in  a 


344  APPENDIX  THREE 

land  dedicated  to  the  proposition  that  "  all  men 
are  created  equal"?     [Sensation.] 

It  yields  nothing  itself ;  it  keeps  all  it  has,  and 
gets  all  it  can  besides.  It  really  came  danger- 
ously near  securing  Illinois  in  1824;  it  did  get 
Missouri  in  1821.  The  first  proposition  was  to 
admit  what  is  now  Arkansas  and  Missouri  as  one 
slave  State.  But  the  territory  was  divided,  and 
Arkansas  came  in,  without  serious  question,  as  a 
slave  State;  and  afterwards  Missouri,  not  as  a 
free  State,  as  would  have  been  equitable,  but  as 
a  slave  State  also.  Then  we  had  Florida  and 
Texas  admitted  with  slavery;  and  now  Kan- 
sas is  about  to  be  forced  into  the  dismal  proces- 
sion. [Sensation.]  And  so  it  is  wherever  you 
look.  You  have  not  forgotten — it  is  but  six  years 
since — how  dangerously  near  California  came  to 
being  a  slave  State.  Texas  is  a  slave  State,  and 
four  other  slave  States  may  by  terms  of  its 
admission  into  the  Union  be  carved  from  its 
vast  domain.  And  yet,  in  the  year  1829,  slavery 
was  abolished  throughout  that  vast  region  by  a 
royal  decree  of  the  then  sovereign  of  Mexico. 
Will  you  please  tell  me  by  what  right  slavery 
exists  in  Texas  to-day?  By  the  same  right  as, 
and  no  higher  or  greater  than,  slavery  is  seeking 
dominion  in  Kansas :  by  political  force — peaceful, 
if  that  will  suffice;  by  the  torch  (as  in  Kansas) 
and  the  bludgeon  (as  in  the  Senate  chamber),  if 
required.  And  so  history  repeats  itself;  and  even 
as  slavery  has  kept  its  course  by  craft,  intimida- 
tion, and  violence  in  the  past,  so  it  will  persist, 
in  my  judgment,  until  met  and  dominated  by  the 
will  of  the  people  bent  on  its  restriction. 

We  have,  this  very  afternoon,  heard  bitter  de- 
nunciations of  Brooks  in  Washington,  and  Titus, 


THE  "LOST  SPEECH"  345 

Stringfellow,  Atchison,  Jones,  and  Shannon  in 
Kansas — the  battle-ground  of  slavery.  I  cer- 
tainly am  not  going  to  advocate  or  shield  these 
men ;  but  they  and  their  acts  are  but  the  necessary 
outcome  of  the  Nebraska  law.  We  should  reserve 
our  highest  censure  for  the  authors  of  the  mis- 
chief, and  not  for  the  catspaws  which  they  use. 
I  believe  it  was  Shakespeare  who  said,  "  Where 
the  offence  lies,  there  let  the  axe  fall  " ;  and,  in 
my  opinion,  this  man  Douglas  and  the  Northern 
men  in  Congress  who  advocate  "  Nebraska  "  are 
more  guilty  than  a  thousand  Joneses  and  String- 
fellows,  with  all  their  murderous  practices. 
[Applause.] 

We  have  made  a  good  beginning  here  to-day. 
As  our  Methodist  friends  would  say,  "  I  feel  it  is 
good  to  be  here."  While  extremists  may  find 
some  fault  with  the  moderation  of  our  platform, 
they  should  recollect  that  "  the  battle  is  not  al- 
ways to  the  strong,  nor  the  race  to  the  swift." 
In  grave  emergencies,  moderation  is  generally 
safer  than  radicalism ;  and  as  this  struggle  is 
likely  to  be  long  and  earnest,  we  must  not,  by  our 
action,  repel  any  who  are  in  sympathy  with  us  in 
the  main,  but  rather  win  all  that  we  can  to  our 
standard.  We  must  not  belittle  nor  overlook  the 
facts  of  our  condition — that  we  are  new  and  com- 
paratively weak,  while  our  enemies  are  en- 
trenched and  relatively  strong.  They  have  the 
administration  and  the  political  power;  and, 
right  or  wrong,  at  present  they  have  the  numbers. 
Our  friends  who  urge  an  appeal  to  arms  with  so 
much  force  and  eloquence,  should  recollect  that 
the  government  is  arrayed  against  us,  and  that 
the  numbers  are  now  arrayed  against  us  as  well ; 
or,  to  state  it  nearer  the  truth,  that  they  are  not 


346  APPENDIX  THREE 

yet  expressly  and  affirmatively  for  us ;  and  that 
we  would  repel  friends  rather  than  gain  them  if 
we  adopted  anything  savoring  of  revolutionary 
methods.  As  it  now  stands,  we  must  appeal  to 
the  sober  sense  and  patriotism  of  the  people.  We 
shall  make  converts  day  by  day ;  we  shall  grow 
strong  by  calmness  and  moderation ;  we  shall 
grow  strong  by  the  violence  and  injustice  of  our 
adversaries.  And,  unless  truth  be  a  mockery  and 
justice  a  hollow  lie,  we  shall  be  in  the  majority 
after  a  while,  and  then  the  revolution  which  we 
shall  accomplish  will  be  none  the  less  radical 
from  being  the  result  of  pacific  measures.  The 
battle  of  freedom  is  to  be  fought  out  on  principle. 
Slavery  is  a  violation  of  the  eternal  right. 
We  have  temporized  with  it  from  the  necessities 
of  our  condition ;  but  as  sure  as  God  reigns  and 
school  children  read,  that  black  foul  lie  can 

NEVER    BE    CONSECRATED    INTO    God's    HALLOWED 

truth  !  [Immense  applause  lasting  some  time.] 
One  of  our  greatest  difficulties  is,  that  men 
who  know  that  slavery  is  a  detestable  crime  and 
ruinous  to  the  nation,  are  compelled,  by  our 
peculiar  condition  and  other  circumstances,  to 
advocate  it  concretely,  though  damning  it  in 
the  raw,  and  thus  slavery  secures  political  sup- 
port from  its  moral  opponents.  Henry  Clay  was 
a  brilliant  example  of  this ;  he  detested  the  sys- 
tem at  heart,  yet  he  perfected  and  forced  through 
the  Compromise  which  secured  to  slavery  a  great 
State  as  well  as  a  political  advantage.  Not  that 
he  hated  slavery  less,  but  that  he  loved  the  whole 
Union  more.  As  long  as  slavery  profited  by  his 
great  Compromise,  the  hosts  of  pro-slavery 
could  not  sufficiently  cover  him  with  praise;  but 
now  that  his  Compromise  stands  in  their  way — 


THE  "LOST  SPEECH"  347 

"...  they  never  mention  him, 
His  name  is  never  heard : 
Their  lips  are  now  forbid  to  speak 
That  once  familiar  word." 

They  have  slaughtered  one  of  his  most  cher- 
ished measures,  and  his  ghost  would  arise  to  re- 
buke them.     [Great  applause.] 

Now,  let  us  unite  in  harmony,  my  friends,  and 
appeal  to  the  moderation  and  patriotism  of  the 
people ;  to  their  sober  second  thought ;  to  the 
awakened  public  conscience.  The  repeal  of 
the  sacred  Missouri  Compromise  has  installed  the 
weapons  of  violence:  the  bludgeon,  the  incen- 
diary torch,  the  death-dealing  rifle,  the  bristling 
cannon — the  weapons  of  kingcraft,  of  the  Inqui- 
sition, of  ignorance,  of  barbarism,  of  oppression. 
We  see  its  fruits  in  the  dying  bed  of  the  heroic 
Sumner ;  in  the  ruins  of  the  "  Free  State  "  hotel ; 
in  the  smoking  embers  of  the  Herald  of  Free- 
dom; in  the  free-State  Governor  of  Kansas 
chained  to  a  stake  on  freedom's  soil  like  a  horse- 
thief,  for  the  crime  of  freedom.  [Applause.] 
We  see  it  in  Christian  statesmen,  and  Christian 
newspapers,  and  Christian  pulpits  applauding  the 
cowardly  act  of  a  low  bully,  who  crawled  upon 

HIS    VICTIM    BEHIND    HIS    BACK    AND    DEALT    THE 

deadly  blow.  [Sensation  and  applause.]  We 
note  our  political  demoralization  in  the  catch- 
words that  are  coming  into  such  common  use ;  on 
the  one  hand,  "  freedom-shriekers,"  and  some- 
times "freedom-screechers"  [Laughter]  ;  and,  on 
the  other  hand,  "  border  ruffians,"  and  that  fully 
deserved.  And  the  significance  of  catch-words 
cannot  pass  unheeded,  for  they  constitute  a  sign 
of  the  times.  Everything  in  this  world  "  jibes  " 
in  with  everything  else,  and  all  the  fruits  of  this 


348  APPENDIX  THREE 

Nebraska  bill  are  like  the  poisoned  source  from 
which  they  come.  I  will  not  say  that  we  may 
not  sooner  or  later  be  compelled  to  meet  force 
by  force;  but  the  time  has  not  yet  come,  and  if 
we  are  true  to  ourselves,  may  never  come.  Do 
not  mistake  that  the  ballot  is  stronger  than  the 
bullet.  Therefore  let  the  legions  of  slavery  use 
bullets;  but  let  us  wait  patiently  till  November 
and  fire  ballots  at  them  in  return;  and  by  that 
peaceful  policy,  I  believe  we  shall  ultimately  win. 
[Applause.] 

It  was  by  that  policy  that  here  in  Illinois  the 
early  fathers  fought  the  good  fight  and  gained  the 
victory.  In  1824  the  free  men  of  our  State,  led 
by  Governor  Coles  (who  was  a  native  of  Mary- 
land and  President  Madison's  private  secretary), 
determined  that  these  beautiful  groves  should 
never  reecho  the  dirge  of  one  who  has  no  title  to 
himself.  By  their  resolute  determination,  the 
winds  that  sweep  across  our  broad  prairies  shall 
never  cool  the  parched  brow,  nor  shall  the  un- 
fettered streams  that  bring  joy  and  gladness  to 
our  free  soil  water  the  tired  feet,  of  a  slave;  but 
so  long  as  those  heavenly  breezes  and  sparkling 
streams  bless  the  land,  or  the  groves  and  their 
fragrance  or  memory  remain,  the  humanity  to 
which  they  minister  shall  be  forever  free! 
[Great  applause]  Palmer,  Yates,  Williams, 
Browning,  and  some  more  in  this  convention 
came  from  Kentucky  to  Illinois  (instead  of  going 
to  Missouri),  not  only  to  better  their  conditions, 
but  also  to  get  away  from  slavery.  They  have 
said  so  to  me,  and  it  is  understood  among  us  Ken- 
tuckians  that  we  don't  like  it  one  bit.  Now,  can 
we,  mindful  of  the  blessings  of  liberty  which  the 
early  men  of  Illinois  left  to  us,  refuse  a  like  privi- 


THE  "LOST  SPEECH"  349 

lege  to  the  free  men  who  seek  to  plant  Freedom's 
banner  on  our  Western  outposts  ?  ["  No  I  No ! "] 
Should  we  not  stand  by  our  neighbors  who  seek 
to  better  their  conditions  in  Kansas  and  Ne- 
braska? ["Yes!  Yes!"]  Can  we  as  Christian 
men,  and  strong  and  free  ourselves,  wield  the 
sledge  or  hold  the  iron  which  is  to  manacle  anew 
an  already  oppressed  race?  ["No!  No!" 
"  Woe  unto  them,"  it  is  written,  "  that  decree  un- 
righteous decrees  and  that  write  grievousness 
which  they  have  prescribed."  Can  we  afford  to 
sin  any  more  deeply  against _human  liberty? 
["No!  No!"] 

One  great  trouble  in  the  matter  is,  that  slavery 
is  an  insidious  and  crafty  power,  and  gains 
equally  by  open  violence  of  the  brutal  as  well  as 
by  sly  management  of  the  peaceful.  Even  after 
the  ordinance  of  1787,  the  settlers  of  Indiana  and 
Illinois  (it  was  all  one  government  then)  tried  to 
get  Congress  to  allow  slavery  temporarily,  and 
petitions  to  that  end  were  sent  from  Kaskaskia, 
and  General  Harrison,  the  Governor,  urged  it 
from  Vincennes,  the  capital.  If  that  had  suc- 
ceeded, good-by  to  liberty  here.  But  John  Ran- 
dolph of  Virginia  made  a  vigorous  report  against 
it ;  and  although  they  persevered  so  well  as  to  get 
three  favorable  reports  for  it,  yet  the  United 
States  Senate,  with  the  aid  of  some  slave  States, 
finally  squelched  it  for  good.  [Applause.]  And 
that  is  why  this  hall  to-day  is  a  temple  for  free 
men  instead  of  a  negro  livery  stable.  [Great  ap- 
plause and  laughter.]  Once  let  slavery  get 
planted  in  a  locality,  by  ever  so  weak  or  doubt- 
ful a  title,  and  in  ever  so  small  numbers,  and  it 
is  like  the  Canada  thistle  or  Bermuda  grass — 
you  can't  root  it  out.    You  yourself  may  detest 


350  APPENDIX  THREE 

slavery,  but  your  neighbor  has  five  or  six 
slaves,  and  he  is  an  excellent  neighbor,  or  your 
son  has  married  his  daughter,  and  they  beg  you 
to  help  save  their  property,  and  you  vote  against 
your  interest  and  principles  to  accommodate  a 
neighbor,  hoping  that  your  vote  will  be  on  the 
losing  side.  And  others  do  the  same;  and  in 
those  ways  slavery  gets  a  sure  foothold.  And 
when  it  is  done  the  whole  mighty  Union — the 
force  of  the  nation — is  committed  to  its  support. 
And  that  very  process  is  working  in  Kansas  to- 
day. And  you  must  recollect  that  the  slave  prop- 
erty is  worth  a  billion  of  dollars  ($1,000,000,- 
000)  ;  while  free-State  men  must  work  for  senti- 
ment alone.  Then  there  are  "  Blue  Lodges  " — as 
they  call  them — everywhere  doing  their  secret 
and  deadly  work. 

It  is  a  very  strange  thing,  and  not  solvable  by 
any  moral  law  that  I  know  of,  that  if  a  man  loses 
his  horse,  the  whole  country  will  turn  out  to  help 
hang  the  thief;  but  if  a  man  but  a  shade  or  two 
darker  than  I  am  is  himself  stolen,  the  very 
same  crowd  will  hang  one  who  aids  in  restoring 
him  to  liberty.  Such  are  the  inconsistencies  of 
slavery,  where  a  horse  is  more  sacred  than  a 
man ;  and  the  essence  of  squatter  or  popular  sov- 
ereignty— I  don't  care  how  you  call  it — is  that  if 
one  man  chooses  to  make  a  slave  of  another,  no 
third  man  shall  be  allowed  to  object.  And  if  you 
can  do  this  in  free  Kansas,  and  it  is  allowed  to 
stand,  the  next  thing  you  will  see  is  shiploads  of 
negroes  from  Africa  at  the  wharf  at  Charleston; 
for  one  thing  is  as  truly  lawful  as  the  other;  and 
these  are  the  bastard  notions  we  have  got  to 
stamp  out,  else  they  will  stamp  us  out.  [Sen- 
sation and  applause.] 


THE  " LOST  SPEECH"  351 

Two  years  ago,  at  Springfield,  Judge  Douglas 
avowed  that  Illinois  came  into  the  Union  as  a 
slave  State,  and  that  slavery  was  weeded  out  by 
the  operation  of  his  great,  patent,  everlasting 
principle  of  "  popular  sovereignty."  [Laughter.] 
Well,  now,  that  argument  must  be  answered,  for 
it  has  a  little  grain  of  truth  at  the  bottom.  I  do 
not  mean  that  it  is  true  in  essence,  as  he  would 
have  us  believe.  It  could  not  be  essentially  true 
if  the  Ordinance  of  '87  was  valid.  But,  in  point 
of  fact,  there  were  some  degraded  beings  called 
slaves  in  Kaskaskia  and  the  other  French  settle- 
ments when  our  first  State  constitution  was 
adopted;  that  is  a  fact,  and  I  don't  deny  it. 
Slaves  were  brought  here  as  early  as  1720,  and 
were  kept  here  in  spite  of  the  ordinance  of  1787 
against  it.  But  slavery  did  not  thrive  here.  On 
the  contrary,  under  the  influence  of  the  ordi- 
nance, the  number  of  slaves  decreased  fifty-one 
from  1810  to  1820;  while  under  the  influence  of 
squatter  sovereignty,  right  across  the  river  in 
Missouri,  it  increased  seven  thousand  two  hun- 
dred and  eleven  in  the  same  time;  and  slavery 
finally  faded  out  in  Illinois,  under  the  influence 
of  the  law  of  freedom,  while  it  grew  stronger 
and  stronger  in  Missouri,  under  the  law  or  prac- 
tice of  "  popular  sovereignty."  In  point  of  fact 
there  were  but  one  hundred  and  seventeen  slaves 
in  Illinois  one  year  after  its  admission,  or  one  to 
every  four  hundred  and  seventy  of  its  popula- 
tion ;  or,  to  state  it  in  another  way,  if  Illinois  was 
a  slave  State  in  1820,  so  were  New  York  and 
New  Jersey  much  greater  slave  States  from  hav- 
ing had  greater  numbers,  slavery  having  been 
established  there  in  very  early  times.  But  there 
is  this  vital  difference  between  all  these  States 


352  APPENDIX  THREE 

and  the  judge's  Kansas  experiment;  that  they 
sought  to  disestablish  slavery  which  had  been 
already  established,  while  the  judge  seeks,  so  far 
as  he  can,  to  disestablish  freedom,  which  had 
been  established  there  by  the  Missouri  Compro- 
mise.    [Several  voices:  "Good!  Good!" 

The  Union  is  undergoing  a  fearful  strain ;  but 
it  is  a  stout  old  ship,  and  has  weathered  many  a 
hard  blow,  and  "  the  stars  in  their  courses,"  aye, 
an  invisible  power,  greater  than  the  puny  efforts 
of  men,  will  fight  for  us.  But  we  ourselves  must 
not  decline  the  burden  of  responsibility,  nor  take 
counsel  of  unworthy  passions.  Whatever  duty 
urges  us  to  do  or  to  omit,  must  be  done  or  omit- 
ted ;  and  the  recklessness  with  which  our  adver- 
saries break  the  laws,  or  counsel  their  violation, 
should  afford  no  example  for  us.  Therefore,  let 
us  revere  the  Declaration  of  Independence;  let 
us  continue  to  obey  the  Constitution  and  the 
laws ;  let  us  keep  step  to  the  music  of  the  Union. 
Let  us  draw  a  cordon,  so  to  speak,  around  the 
slave  States,  and  the  hateful  institution,  like  a 
reptile  poisoning  itself,  will  perish  by  its  own  in- 
famy.    [Applause.] 

But  we  cannot  be  free  men  if  this  is,  by  our 
national  choice,  to  be  a  land  of  slavery.  Those 
who  deny  freedom  to  others,  deserve  it  not  for 
themselves;  and,  under  the  rule  of  a  just  God, 
cannot  long  retain  it.     [Loud  applause. ,] 

Did  you  ever,  my  friends,  seriously  reflect 
upon  the  speed  with  which  we  are  tending  down- 
wards ?  Within  the  memory  of  men  now  present 
the  leading  statesmen  of  Virginia  could  make 
genuine,  red-hot  abolitionist  speeches  in  old  Vir- 
ginia !  and,  as  I  have  said,  now  even  in  "  free 
Kansas  "  it  is  a  crime  to  declare  that  it  is  "  free 


THE  "LOST  SPEECH"  353 

Kansas."  The  very  sentiments  that  I  and  others 
have  just  uttered,  would  entitle  us,  and  each  of 
us,  to  the  ignominy  and  seclusion  of  a  dungeon; 
and  yet  I  suppose  that,  like  Paul,  we  were  "  free 
born."  But  if  this  thing  is  allowed  to  continue, 
it  will  be  but  one  step  further  to  impress  the  same 
rule  in  Illinois.     [Sensation.] 

The  conclusion  of  all  is,  that  we  must  restore 
the  Missouri  Compromise.  We  must  highly  re- 
solve that  Kansas  shall  be  free!  [Great  ap- 
plause.] We  must  reinstate  the  birthday  prom- 
ise of  the  Republic ;  we  must  reaffirm  the  Decla- 
ration of  Independence ;  we  must  make  good  in 
essence  as  well  as  in  form  Madison's  avowal  that 
"  the  word  slave  ought  not  to  appear  in  the  Con- 
stitution " ;  and  we  must  even  go  further,  and  de- 
cree that  only  local  law,  and  not  that  time-hon- 
ored instrument,  shall  shelter  a  slave-holder.  We 
must  make  this  a  land  of  liberty  in  fact,  as  it  is 
in  name.  But  in  seeking  to  attain  these  results 
— so  indispensable  if  the  liberty  which  is  our 
pride  and  boast  shall  endure — we  will  be  loyal  to 
the  Constitution  and  to  the  "  flag  of  our  Union," 
and  no  matter  what  our  grievance — even  though 
Kansas  shall  come  in  as  a  slave  State — and  no 
matter  what  theirs — even  if  we  shall  restore  the 
Compromise — we  will  say  to  the  Southern 
disunionists,  We  won't  go  out  of  the  Union, 
and  you  SHAN'T!  !  !  [This  was  the  climax; 
the  audience  rose  to  its  feet  en  masse,  applauded, 
stamped,  waved  handkerchiefs,  threw  hats  in  the 
air,  and  ran  riot  for  several  minutes.  The  arch- 
enchanter  who  wrought  this  transformation 
looked,  meanwhile,  like  the  personification  of 
political  justice.] 

But  let  us,  meanwhile,  appeal  to  the  sense  and 


354  APPENDIX  THREE 

patriotism  of  the  people,  and  not  to  their  preju- 
dices ;  let  us  spread  the  floods  of  enthusiasm  here 
aroused  all  over  these  vast  prairies,  so  suggestive 
of  freedom.  Let  us  commence  by  placing  in  the 
Governor's  chair  at  Springfield  the  gallant  soldier 
Colonel  Bissell,  who  stood  for  the  honor  of  our 
State  alike  on  the  plains  and  amidst  the  chaparral 
of  Mexico,  and  on  the  floor  of  Congress,  where 
he  defied  the  Southern  Hotspur;  and  this  act 
will  have  a  greater  moral  effect  than  all  the  bor- 
der ruffians  can  accomplish  in  all  their  raids  on 
Kansas.  There  is  both  a  power  and  a  magic  in 
popular  opinion.  To  that  let  us  now  appeal ;  and 
while,  in  all  probability,  no  resort  to  force  will 
be  needed,  our  moderation  and  forbearance  will 
stand  us  in  good  stead  when,  if  ever,  we  must 

MAKE  AN  APPEAL  TO  BATTLE  AND  TO  THE  GOD  OF 

hosts  !  !  [Immense  applause  and  a  rush  for  the 
orator.] 


